This past Saturday, our church had their first Fall Festival and Food Drive. It was a Thanksgiving food drive (obviously) and a fund-raiser to help our youth raise money for summer camp. Since the Ladybug went to camp last year (and loved it) and wants to go again this year, our family was helping man a “booth”–the hayride. (Did you see the Facebook pictures while we were fixing up the trailer?) I think it went really well, although Mr. Fix-It and I seemed to end up manning the booth, while the munchkins ran around playing in the leaves and bounce house! {smile}

One of the most popular activities was the leaf pile. A square was created using silt fencing and then filled with leaves that everyone brought from home. Simple. Amazingly fun!

There was face-painting, squash bowling, pumpkin rolling, turkey arts and crafts, a bounce house and inflatable slide (very popular as well!), a cake walk, vendors and food, and more. Some of the games and activities were down right brilliant in their simplicity! There was “seed flicking” where you had to flip pumpkin or sunflower seeds off your finger and into a basket on the ground. There was “turkey in the straw” where a kiddo pool was filled with loose straw and they hid a little turkey toy (actually, it was a Lil’ Folks chicken, but who cares when the straw is flying?) in the middle to be found. My boys were big fans of the “pile of leaves”–which was actually just a pile of leaves contained by some silt fencing. 

The cake walk really threw my crew for a few minutes. They hadn’t ever seen one and just didn’t get it. (And weren’t crazy about the fact that we had to give away all the cupcakes I made.) I told the Cowboy it was kinda like musical chairs, but with straw bales and you win a cupcake or cookies at the end. He said, “then why don’t you call it musical straw bales?”

What do you say?

The kiddos beloved Ms. Maya was doing face-painting. Looked pretty good if you ask me! Certainly better than I could do!

It was only from 10-3 (although we were up early to get chores done and get to church to set up) but our kiddos were wiped out when we got home. They did chores, showers, dinner, and were in bed by like 6:45 pm without a peep!

Then we had to get up early Sunday morning and work on our other trailer.

We sold a breeding pair of Hog Island sheep to the Virginia Zoo a few years ago for their barnyard exhibit. Now they are getting ready to completely redevelop the barnyard area and are re-homing all the livestock until the project is complete. They called and asked if we would like our Hog Island ram back, or if we knew of another heritage breed farm that would want him.

We agreed to bring him back “home”, and after he had a full vet check we arranged to pick him up on Sunday.

Meet “Tag.”

I had forgotten that he was black! He’s a son of our old black ram (our favorite ram!) Ozzie, and I wasn’t prepared to find him almost the spitting image! Of course, we hadn’t seen him for nearly 2 years–but still! I really miss Ozzie around here. He had the perfect farmyard personality. Acceptably friendly with people (would sniff your hand, but never rub or push up against you), intolerant of any “threats” (as the dogs learned to their detriment), and took his job as “flock sire” seriously.

“Tag” is a bit shorter in the leg. A bit thicker in the leg and face. And his horns are not a pretty. But every time we walk past his quarantine field (he’s in the field behind the garage until he gets settled in and used to everything) I get a little memory jolt.

You’ll notice he’s got some allergy discharge and sinus swelling. They ran a full check up on him and the zoo vet thinks it’s just seasonal allergies. I’m hoping that maybe it’s more of a barnyard dust allergy and some fresh farm air and spaces will help clear it up for him.

He also walks on a leash with a collar (he was part of a lot of educational programs). Our kiddos are in awe of that! They can’t wait to try to “walk the sheep.” There probably won’t be much of that around here! {smile} Right now they’re only visiting through the fence or gate unless we’re in the field with him. He seems well-behaved, but he is a young ram that hasn’t been around other sheep in a long time and the munchkins are of a much less intimidating stature. {smile} They’ve feed him a few treats through the gate, but I’m the only one handling him much until we’re sure he’s adjusted. (And no, I’m not walking him around the yard!)

Turns out that “peacock” is the word for male “peafowl.” (The blue.) And “peahen” is the word for female “peafowl.”

Oh yeah, and the zoo has a plethora of peafowl, so we brought a few of them home as well.

We were poorly prepared for this adventure.

It turns out that “they hang out on the ground all day and pretty much only fly to roost in the trees at night” might have been a little bit of an oversimplification. It was the “pretty much” that caught me off-guard.

Tell me, do you see the peafowl?

I’m not sure what was worse–the fact that they immediately winged across the entire field and up into the tallest tree on the field edge, or the fact that my kiddos had to face the fact that Momma is not some sort of miracle peacock-whisperer and I couldn’t make them come back down! (We need to manage expectations a little better around here, I’m telling ya!)

Does this help?

They were all back on the ground this morning when I went out to feed the chickens, but this is clearly going to take a little more farmyard engineering than we were prepared for.

We have one male and several females. And the male is unexpectedly good at camouflaging! That tail blends right in!

So if you drive by and see me trying to coax rouge sapphire birds out of the trees with dog food, or walking a sheep around the field with a collar and leash, just please don’t beep the horn. The last thing I need right now is anyone else feeling as startled as I do most of the days around here! {grin}

How are things around your home place?

See where I’m sharing…