Down on the farm

We had an impromptu trip to a local farm today.  There was no tour or real lessons learned, but the kids got to run around, see the chickens, follow some deer tracks and harvest a bounty of fresh veggies!  We had fun, but it was HOT.  It has been at least 105 degrees here everyday, so today's 97 degrees felt rather cool.  That is until we started trekking about the grounds. 

The kids immediately made a bee line for the closest by of water.  Unfortunately it was so shallow that it was mostly a giant mud puddle.

But we did find some animal tracks.

Good to know that if push comes to shove, the kids can create shelter for themselves.  I just hope it doesn't rain.

There's chickens in that coop, I swear.  They were hiding in the shade (smart chickens).

Zion's face expresses how hot it is out there.  She was NOT a happy camper in the heat.

 Bijou scavenging for ripe tomatoes among the green ones.  She didn't have to scavenge for long.

 Jena was not happy in the heat either.  I think that she is losing her tropical roots.  She was ready to go back to the car after 10 minutes.

 But there were tomatoes to be picked!

After a quick drink break with Ashni, Jena was ready to get back to picking!

Our bounty of tomatoes!  There's a lot of cherry tomatoes in there.  I'm pretty sure the kids ate about this many as they picked.

This is our mixed bag of tomatoes, baby squash and zucchini, and a couple of other odds and ends.

Eggplant and pattypan squash.  The colors are so nice together.

The entire spread!  We are going out of town on Sunday.  I don't think we will be able to eat all of this.

Purple peppers (which I'd never even seen before) and okra!

One of the great things (and sometimes the worst thing too) about living in a small town is that everyone knows everyone else.  We were actually supposed to get a tour of the farm from one of my husband's friends, but she couldn't be there.  So she let the head field hand know that we were coming and he just let us wander freely and pick whatever we wanted.  Yay for free produce!