Thursday, May 6, 2010

'Til the cows come home.


A few weeks ago I accompanied my daughter to her preschool field trip. We went to visit a local dairy farm called the Spring House. It’s been a family owned and operated business for more than 35 years. They have the dairy farm run by one daughter, the market and bakery run by another daughter and they also have a catering business that another daughter manages.

It made for a fun morning out and some good hands-on learning. We were given a tour of the farm as our guide explained the milking process.

Then my own little milkmaid got to have a turn.

Then we went to visit the new additions to the farm and give them their breakfast.


These girls were done giving up their milk already and were now busy enjoying their breakfast.


After the tour was finished, we went to the market area and gobbled up our free ice cream. While we sat there I thought about some of the things our tour guide said. My oldest daughter had been there a few years ago for her field trip. At that time they had twice as many cows as they do now. The woman giving the tour said they had to cut down their herd because of the cost of feed. She explained that because of "the price of corn and the demand to turn it into fuel for all the gas guzzling oversized vehicles" they couldn’t afford to keep as many cows.

Boy, that ice cream was good.
And their milk is so fresh.
I wonder if that other Mommy there felt at all bad about that huge escalade she drives????
I mean it doesn’t seem to bother her that she can’t maneuver it very well or that she always takes up 2 spaces at the school drop off/pick up. Hmm, I bet she won't be bugged at all about her fuel consumption or the farm selling off cows.

I hope they are still in business when my little man goes on his field trip.

5 comments:

Intense Guy said...

That is an interesting observation your tour guide made. And as we continue to destroy farms for housing developments, one is left to wonder about what the "end game" (the final moves in Chess) will bring.

I'm sure the Escalade driver was clueless to everything but the peer-pressure that caused her to buy an unsuitable vehicle. In fact she probably has smug feelings (I call it one-up mommyism) that is better than the other moms because her car is somehow "safer" than the rest.

But it's not if she can't drive it properly.

On a happier note, I love those pictures! your little man looks enthralled with the cow ride! And the first cow looks mighty content. :)

Liz Mays said...

I am happy to say that I drive a little old car and always will! Although it still costs me $50 to fill the stupid thing!

kyooty said...

I'm so glad that I only use my van for the trips where I need to go a distance and it's full of people or people's stuff. Hubbie's new car is the one we use for Dashing around. If he's got to work all day, eh takes my van, and I have his car for my dashing. If he's having a dashing day, he gets the car. :)

The Cows are pretty, but the poor things don't seem to get to move when they eat? Do they get to lazy in the sun much?

Heather said...

Good observation! My husband and I have actually been carpooling using his "little" higher mpg car. So far we've been lucky that it's worked out - last night was the first time our plan didn't work flawlessly. I think of the carbon footprint and the using of natural resources when I drive my car, but I never thought about how it affected cows! Never would have even realized that repercussion. Thanks for sharing it gives me new perspective.

Alexis AKA MOM said...

I bet it went threw one ear and out the other. It's sad we don't think about what things do around us that can effect the larger picture.

I hope it's still open when he is old enough a farm is a true experience.