Chickens, Sand, and Strawberries

This morning we went out to Blessington Farms to pick strawberries.  I wasn't really sure what to expect but it's just a small "field" of strawberries, a big sand hill for the kids to play on, and a small enclosure with endangered Heritage chickens, ducks, and a turkey.  It also has a couple of different tractor rides.  It's pretty small, but perfect for a quick family trip to wear out the kiddo, and just be outside and do something different.  Not to mention it's free to go there, you just pay by the pound for the strawberries you pick.  At $5 a lb, it's more than twice the price in the grocery store right now, but they are a heck of a lot fresher and taste a heck of a lot better.  Not to mention supporting a local business. 

It wasn't the prettiest day but I've been wanting to go and we're running out of weekends to do it before Mattie is here so off we went!

Levi kept saying "chee" for chicken, then "brock, brock".  And also "duh" for ducks.  All those hours of looking at farm animal books and making animal noises make this mommy proud.

Levi loves older kids.  He really liked this boy that worked/volunteered there.

 

The same boy with his chicken mask on. Levi wasn't scared, he just had a "what in the world?" look on his face, to put it nicely.

 I think this was the sister of the above boy, she was really sweet too.  They caught a chicken for Levi to pet and hold.

 Levi did great with the chicken!

These kids were so good with him to gently show him how to hold and pet the chicken.

 And off to the sand hill!

This was his first experience with sand and he was not too impressed at first.  He kept making faces and trying to get it off of his hands.

But as long as daddy is with him, everything must be ok!  Justin helped him up the big sand hill to get to the toys.

Both boys were having fun playing with the toys...

 And of course he had to slide down the big black tube!

 Here comes Levi!

It's apparently pretty funny when dad is wiping all the sand off of you.

Really funny. Even after he picks you up...

 And on to one of the tractor rides. They don't like for pregnant women to ride so mom had to sit by and watch :(

Passing by mom with a smile on his face.

 Levi was getting tired by the time we got to the strawberry picking so Justin entertained Levi while I picked out the perfect berries.  Red with deep recessed brown seeds were the ones I was looking for, as instructed.  As you can see, they aren't planted in the ground.  They use a technique called hydroponics that doesn't use any soil.  For the curious, you can read about it on their website here.

 Big belly!

I ended up with about a pound and a half of strawberries of which we've already eaten quite a few.  I finally had to hide them because Levi kept wanting to eat them all afternoon and evening!  What a great way to spend the day as a family.