Down on the Farm

On Friday, B, T, and I joined some mommy and toddler friends at Underwood Farms in Moorpark, CA. We knew there would be animals and fruit to pick so I figured it would be fun. The kids were very psyched, and I was hoping our hour drive wouldn't let us down. I can happily say that the farm did not disappoint! In fact, this may have been our favorite adventure as of late. The kids were thrilled with seeing all of the farm animals and climbing bales of hay. They adored the little playground area and sand box during lunch time, but the best was still yet to come.

After lunch we (yes, the toddlers!) picked the most delicious strawberries. You should have seen their faces light up. B was very into picking the brightest red ones, and T was interested in sampling as many as possible. Every time I turned around he had another one in his mouth - thankfully he is the second child so I didn't freak out. After having salmonella at 4 weeks of age, T laughs in the face of E.Coli.

I had to pull B away (she and I could have picked strawberries all day!) and we headed over to the veggie section where she helped me pick green beans, yellow zucchini, squash, carrots, and cucumbers. T focused more on pushing the wagon around and jumping off of some spare boxes. We had so much fun and the tantrums when it was time to go were enough to prove that they had a great day. It's nice to be able to end everything enjoyable with a good melt-down. :)

That evening we washed our strawberries and the kids gobbled them up. This is especially amazing since neither B nor T had ever managed to force themselves to injest a strawberry before - too tart I guess. Anyway, they loved these, and I had to cut them off so we would have some left to proudly display for daddy. 

On Saturday, we steamed some of our veggies and while I was the only one who would eat the zucchini, B and T devoured the green beans! B usually likes those, but not T, so we were very happy. I guess we only have to drive an hour and pick them ourselves in order to get him to eat things that are not bread products. Easy enough :) 

 

So, besides having a blast at the farm I also realized a couple of things. I realized how removed we are in our food consumption these days. Not that I don't like the ease of going to a store and grabbing a giant bag of pre-washed and pre-cut broccoli to steam, but this definitely gave me a new perspective, and perhaps more appreciation for what we eat. Hopefully it did the same for the kids. Picking enough green beans for a meal is no easy task. I really appreciate the people who do these hard jobs for us, too. I would not be a very good farmer, not only because I can't keep houseplants alive, but also because I don't think I could hang with the hard work. So, God bless the people who grow and pick our food for us. And thanks for letting us give it a shot this once! :)