California Country Style....

Yesterday we discovered the happy surprise that California does have some down-home country. For us born and bred Southerners, as much as we love to travel and see new places, there is always something extremely comforting and even exciting about finding similarities in new places to our beloved KY home. We took a 40 minute drive into "the country" to visit Swank Farms. They host an annual pumpkin patch, corn maze, and Halloween extravaganza. Although, we didn't try it, they had a "corn cannon" that reminded me greatly of a homemade KY potato gun, same theory, different vegetable. The drive through many working farms growing mostly lettuces, strawberries, garlic, and some various fruit trees gives such a different perspective of California than the expected vineyards and highbrow stuff. I have to laugh every time we drive through the agricultural districts at the labor situation. Obviously, living in a place that grows the largest portion of the country's vegetables there are a LOT of migrant workers. Now, I remember seeing the tobacco fields in KY and the cotton fields in OK with row after row of trucks and vans packed to the gills with workers. Oh no, CA doesn't fool with all that. They have official Migrant Worker school buses (painted white and labeled as such, I am not making assumptions). It seems to be a very effective way to get all the labor from field to field quickly and efficiently. The reason I bring it up is that they also have a very efficient way of bringing their facilities with them. Yep, you guessed it. Attached to each school bus is a flatbed trailer hauling no less than 3 port-o-potties. You heard it right folks. No need to worry about who's hiding behind a lettuce head... This does however bring up a good point made by my friend K yesterday. Her beloved hubby E told us last night that her only comment regarding this whole system.."You know, it's really a shame we don't wash our vegetables...." Are you rolling on the floor laughing? Because if you are not, it's because Einstein here can't tell a story properly. If I had been drinking milk when he told me that it would have shot out my nose. However, I was having a Maker's Mark cocktail, and we all know that KY folks do not waste good bourbon. Back to the premise of her statement though, how true is that? So consider this my public service announcement for today's blog. Wash your veggies, and then wash them again, and don't cuss me for making you thinking about it the next time you have a nice big green leafy salad!

Back to the farm, I really was intending to talk about pleasant things like toe-licking goats. Yes, again my friend K, found the only goat in CA with a foot fetish. There is a hilarious pic to prove it, but sadly I don't have a copy. Suffice to say if things were ever to go astray for K and E, there's a goat in Hollister CA ready to step up.

I had to laugh several times at my little city girls. Most of you know that I spent my whole life living in a suburb. However, I have always felt like a country girl at heart due to every weekend of my childhood having been spent on my grandparents' farm. It was a small family farm with no hired labor, just one well-fed, overworked son-in-law (right Dad?) To me growing up, though, it was a huge spread. We had cows, pigs, chickens, guineas, geese an odd assortments of cats and dogs, and even for two summers a male peacock... Don't ask, because I do not know how a farm in Southern IN has a peacock! With the exception of my whole adversity to, oh okay, phobia of snakes (inherited directly from my little farmer Granny) I was truly in heaven on the farm. What's not to love about fishing in the pond, hiking in the woods, climbing in the trees and hog troughs, and on tractors? I never did the whole climbing on the hay bales thing, because you know there are a lot of snakes in barns, something to do with a lot of rats in barns because of a lot of cow feed in barns. You get the drift. Anyway, there was never a dull day on the farm. I loved the dirt and the burrs and the smells and all things rural, except the snakes, I believe you are aware. Now, my girls, oh how funny are they? The goats at this farm, well they were typical goats. If it's standing still they are going to try and taste it. My girls were enthralled, but not quite sure about the whole "getting licked versus getting bit" thing. It's just like M with a bee. If she sees a bee within 30 feet of her location she is convinced that particular bee is on a mission to sting her. Apparently this theory translates to goats as well. She couldn't understand how to hold a hand full of feed to give a goat, and not be actually touched in any way by the goat. This farm had a great solution to this problem. "Fishing for Goats" That's right, you pick up an individual sweet corn stalk and hold it over a fence, and voila immediately you've got a keeper on the line. Until they yank your whole stalk out of your hand and you have to get a new pole! It was very entertaining to say the least.

L liked it best from Dad's taller vantage point....

M got the hang of it pretty quickly...

Eventually goats WILL get out of any pen, and eventually M will warm up to them and jump right in...

The corn maze was also fun for the girls. One minor problem though, corn fields are muddy. Who would have thought? My girls, L especially, are not big fans of muddy. One minor spill, two feet into the maze and the rest of the trip was a chorus of "I'm dirty Mama. Change me Mama." How do you convince a headstrong toddler that the beginning of a muddy corn maze is not the best place to plop down and change because you don't like to be dirty?

Here is our G-rated version of Children of the Corn....

The girls were greatly impressed with a wonderful gadget they had to shuck feed corn. They had two sandboxes full of corn to play in. I could have played all day myself, but darn it someone has to be Mama.

L was also very fond of the chalk house. It was a playhouse with chalkboard walls all waiting to be filled with toddler masterpieces. I am mildly concerned though that developmentally we are currently at a place where introducing her to the theory of murals may not have been prudent. Just yesterday morning, I was cleaning pink marker off my bathroom wall, and this was prior to our trip to the chalk house.... Heaven help me.

Last, but not least, were the bunnies. It's nice to see that some things never change. Before she was even one, L was the one to hold the live bunny in the girls Easter pics because M was having no part of that thing crawling up her arm. L just put a death grip on Thumper and the pics turned out great. I was very concerned the rabbit might be permanently scarred but the photographer assured me she had seen much worse... I am not sure that is really comforting, but you know we must have the good shot. Yesterday's exchange, not so much different. M gently poked one tiny finger at a bunny and she was done. L, well let's just say she tried to lock them all in their refuge (dog carrier) and was going in after them had I not intervened. I may have my own Croc Hunter in the making.

Note the big kid on the OUTSIDE of the bunny pen....

Lastly, this is what you get when a really um, not good, photographer with a really small camera tries to get two toddlers and two kindergartners to "smile pretty for the camera!"