Ryan had a birthday last week, and what he really wanted to do on his special day was visit the rooster we had to re-home, (Earl, formerly known as Pearl), at the Hillside School farm. That's a totally normal request, right? Every 12 year old boy in America would have the same birthday wish, right? ;) Lucky for us, Farmer Jen at the Hillside farm was, once again, so welcoming to our family. She's the best.
Not only did we get to visit our now-grown-up Earl, who is the most handsome and friendliest rooster ever (maybe we're a little biased), but she also gave us a lesson in milking goats. (We're thinking about getting goats in the spring.) Such a fun day for my family!
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| We all fell in love (again) with the farm's welcoming committee, Mr. Tom Turkey. Seriously, this guy is the sweetest thing ever and followed us all around the farm, talking to us and looking for some pats. Just adorable. |
Jen let us have our first experience in milking goats. These were very patient, easy girls to milk.
We were a bit timid at first, not wanting to hurt the goat, but she explained (and we later witnessed) that our milking hands were much more gentle than the goat's babies were when they wanted milk. We were slow and awkward, but successful. And we were very impressed when the experienced farmers took over and got the job done so quickly! Practice makes perfect.
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| Ryan milking a full size Alpine goat |
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| Ben milking a Nigerian dwarf goat |
After our goat milking lessons, we headed up to the chicken coop to see our friend, Earl. We were so excited! The last time we saw him, he was just a baby. Would we recognize him? Would he recognize us?
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| Earl today, 5 months old |
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| Earl at 4 weeks old, the last time we saw him. |
Well, he sure looked very different from when he was only 4 weeks old! So big and regal looking! A very handsome Silver Grey Dorking rooster! Not sure if he actually remembered us or not, but he was super friendly and let us all pick him up and hold him.
Ryan thought Earl might be curious to see what his friends back at Glen Hill Farm looked like now that they had grown up, too, so he showed him pictures of our remaining Silver Grey Dorking hen, Ruby, on my phone. LOL!...
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| Earl and his friend, Ginger, looking at a picture of our Ruby. |
We were so happy to see that he was well loved, not only by Farmer Jen and the students at the Hillside School, but also by the beautiful hens that are his family now. We even got to witness some sweet interactions between Earl and his favorite hen, Ginger. They were very loving, even preening each other.
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| So great to see Earl again! |
After saying goodbye to Earl, two of the alpacas came over to us near the hose area. Farmer Jen explained that they loved to get hosed down on hot days. And she let Ben and Ryan do the honors.
And last but not least, we visited the belted galloway cows in the pasture.
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| Ryan offering an apple to a pregnant cow. |
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| A first time mom with her new baby at snack time. Yes, we were definitely more gentle milking the goats than this calf was with her mom. Oof. What a patient mom this was! |
We had a wonderful time visiting the farm and especially seeing Earl! A perfect way to celebrate Ryan's birthday. Thank you, Farmer Jen and Hillside School Farm!
