Old Baker Farm

I took a group of kindergardeners from Shades Mountain Elementary School on a field trip Friday. It's been a long time since I've been in amongst that many five year olds. Most of them had never been on a bus before and the first few curves and bumps the bus encountered caused a reaction similar to a flock of startled starlings.

Of course they had to sing all the verses of "The Wheels on the Bus"(go wound and wound) .  It was a little noisy but since I drive middle school students, I'm used to it. The destination was Old Baker Farm near Harpersville, Alabama, just a forty minute drive from the school.

The farm has been a homestead since before Alabama was even a state, and is still run as a family farm. They raise cotton, corn, and pumpkins. I followed along as the kids got the tour. They got to go through the barn where they were introduced to: 

 a lamb, 

a rabbit, chickens, geese, 

 some loud gobbling turkeys, ducks,

 goats, sheep, donkeys and a horse. 

They took a hay ride and picked out pumpkins to take home.

I stayed back at the barn and got up close and personal with a couple of jersey calves.

 

Somebody feed me!

If we put our heads together we can figure out

how to get her to feed us!

There were a good number of chickens of course. What farm would be complete without a few feathered yard ornaments? They had what looked like a Red Star, a New Hampshire Red, some Barred Plymouth Rocks and some Light Brahmas.

The farm is open to the public on weekends in October, offering families and groups hayrides, horse rides, corn and hay mazes, a Civil War re-enactment and Indian festival dancing. Check out the website for specific dates and activities.

It was a lot of fun. In fact, I might try to talk Fear an Cheoil into going down there before he morphs into The Hunter in the middle of November.