martinzoo

Yesterday we went to the Chesterfield Berry Farm to pick out some pumpkins with our homeschooling friends. This was our second attempt. Even though Virginia is in a severe drought, we actually got rained out last Friday. And what a puny, mistimed rain it was. It only lasted one hour. Just long enough to mess up our field trip….

But not long enough to do any good for our drought conditions. Today we have rain in the forecast. A real rain. It’s supposed to last four days and provide us with *inches* of rain. Here’s hoping!

The drought did not diminish the quantity or quality of pumpkins, though. We had a spectacular selection. Everyone was quite happy with their pumpkins. And the children had fun running amongst the rows of bright, orange fruit.

GB has decided that his pumpkin is too perfect to carve. So we will only be carving mine. We have decided on a wolf howling at the moon for our pumpkin theme. I hope I can do it well enough to pass the GB inspection.

He is in charge of scooping out the guts and separating the seeds. We will be using the seeds in an estimating activity and then an eating activity. I also thought we would try growing mold under several different types of conditions.

The driver from our hayride must have eaten his Wheaties, because he was in a great mood with lots of energy. Enough energy that he offered to let ALL the children have a sit on the top of his tractor. As you can see here, GB was thrilled at the great height of the seat.

The corn pit provided a solid hour’s worth of entertainment. These children were fascinated by a huge bin with a two foot depth of dried corn. For some reason GB thought it would be a good idea to give it a taste. Don’t worry, I’m sure he’ll be fine. Yeah, I know, it’s kinda gross, but not to a kid. And really, it was too late to do anything about it. So I’ll just let that go… Ok? The kids thought it was hilarious to tuck in their shirts and then fill them up with corn, making them all look like pregnant women and guys with beer guts. Quite funny!!

This is the corn cannon. You take a dried ear of corn, load it into the barrel, prime the cannon with air, and let ‘er rip! We watched several people, including one arrogant dad, try and miss the targets over, and over. Out of five shots, GB hit two, earning him the respect of the employee in charge. GB wouldn’t listen to advice on how to aim the cannon. The arrogant dad and the employee both told him to aim high, but he decided to shoot straight on, and was pretty successful. My ears were ringing when we left. The cannon was really loud.

This is a train that the Berry Farm created out of hay bales. Isn’t is cool?

GB really wanted to go through the corn maze. But I have an unnatural fear of being lost. It probably borders on being a phobia. And this maze encompassed EIGHT acres of corn. I had visions of being lost in it for hours! Plus, it cost $7.00 each to give it a try. So we did not do it. I admire the skill involved in creating it, but I do not want to partake. I’m sorry, call me a party pooper.

Virginia is celebrating 400 years. So I thought the maze was beautifully appropriate. Isn’t it cool what they can do from the ground…. And then look like this from the sky?