Farmstead Fun - Trip to Yorktown

What do farm kids do for fun?  Why, we take over Yorktwon, VA, of course!

Many of the original homes are still at Yorktown and people live in them today.  Some are little shops and restaurants.  The highlight of our visit, though, was a Young Soldier lesson at the battlefield museum at the Visitor Center where the kids got to make their own miniature gabions.

What's a gabion?  Well, I'll tell you .....

The twig "basket" in the front is a gabion.  Soldiers built lots of them, then filled them with dirt.  See the overgrown ridge behind the gabion?  That is a gabion wall; a row of gabions, filled with dirt, lined up, and allowed to grow over.  This is how soldiers built a protective wall and had a place to put the dirt from the trenches they dug. 

 A couple of my kids making gabions with the park ranger in the background demonstrating how it's done.  He did a great job talking to the kids about how soldiers lived and worked during the war. 

There is also a replica ship in the museum.  Man the canons!

In other news, we have ordered a milking stanchion for Lulu the goat and it should be here soon.  I will start milking her once a day to get her milk supply up while the kids are still nursing.  Fresh milk and cheese incoming!  Also, we will be checking in on the bees.  See you back soon!

Farmstead Fun - Kaplooey!

What do we farm kids do for fun?  Why, we use all of mom's baking soda and vinegar to make a super cool volcano in the dirt, of course!

When my kids holler through the house, "Mom, can we use the baking soda and vinegar to make a volcano in the yard?" I get a warm fuzzy feeling inside.  I probably should have been more specific than simply answering in the affirmative because they used an entire bulk bag of baking soda and a gallon of vinegar!

My, that's fun and bubbly!

Farmstead Fun - Duct Tape

What do we farm kids do for fun?  Why, we make boats with cardboard and duct tape, of course!


This is one slick boat!  Our eldest (11) put this together and it floated great!  He discovered that a bit of water got under the tape at one spot, so let it dry and fixed it.  He was proud of his creation and named it "Wolf" prior to its maiden voyage.  He later lamented having added the flag, noting that it made the vessel unbalanced.  That's some advanced duct tape boat engineering, right there!

My daughter (10) has her own strengths, but duct tape boat making is just not her forte.  She seems to think in two dimensions rather than three.  I have seen this tendency in other projects of hers, too.  I find it curious and intriguing.

 Our two youngest (9 and 7) worked together on a design similar to their big brother's, complete with three dimensions, flappies, and a pointy front.  This is a fine piece of amateur duct tape boat work. 



Hrm, it seems I need to purchase more duct tape.

Farmstead Fun - Blast Off!

What do we farm kids do for fun?  Why, we shoot off rockets, of course!  These young pullets haven't seen us do this before.  Notice that you do not see any of our older chickens anywhere near this thing.  *wink, wink*

Trouble Kitty lived here last year when we shot off a few rockets, but I don't know if she was hanging around at the time.  If so, she has a short memory!  She was quite happy to hang around as the guys set up the launch but she and the young chickens all ran for their lives at blast off!

Good launch!  This is what it looks like when the engine blasts, sending the rocket up the guide and into the sky. 

Bad launch.  This is what it looks like when the engine blasts, but fails to send the rocket flying away.  It popped on the launchpad.  Poor little squirt was disappointed, but he'll get to try again when we get more engines.  Maybe I can get him using the model paints to pretty up our rockets over the summer.