On Thursday, May 19th, we visited The Art Barn. This place is so up my our alley.
I found out about this place from a blogger I follow. She and her two girls visited almost two years ago and I knew then this would be a great place for us to spend time at. I considered having Stella's birthday party here last year and it would have been perfect, it was just a bit out of budget and didn't allow for us to invite an unlimited amount of people. Her party at the house turned out great-no regrets. But I'm definitely glad we could finally visit here.
I arranged a group get together through C.O.B.B. Moms and we had about 7-9 moms and 12+ kids scheduled to go. Then, of course, people started backing out. We ended up with 3 moms and a handful of kids. I felt bad because I had confirmed the number two days prior with Farmer Sue, but oh well. We still had a great time. The weather was perfect. It was really overcast to where I didn't even need sunglasses and that's rare.
This is what greets you when you first walk up.
Our view from the front parking lot.
We parked across the field from this camper.
After checking in, we were told to walk around and check out all of the animals until someone called for us. So that's just what we did.
This one here was full of attitude when we arrived,
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but slowly it dissipated.
Stella loved petting the barn cat.
Always a sucker for blue hydrangeas
A mama hen and her baby chicks, all in a row.
I attempted several times to get a good shot of some beautiful eggs, but it didn't work out.
But Stella was on a mission to find them and point them out to me.
Love that tea-stained color the petals turn on Magnolia trees.
Someone did call for us and we got to take a tractor ride. Well, really a trailer ride being pulled behind Matilda the Tractor, but same thing basically to a kid.
We rode around and the lady explained to us the circle of life known as "Poop." Yep, Poop. The kids got to say it, see it, point to it, call it yucky poopy and then smell it-in clean, composted, ready-to-use form.
We continued around the farm viewing the pasture and barns from the tractor.
It was gorgeous.
We came around and got to see the beautiful organic garden made and
grown pretty from compost and seeds.
When the ride was over we settled down under some big trees for an art lesson.
The instructor showed us how to paint a pig and a chicken using simple shapes. This was helpful for me since I love to paint, but don't have much skill.
Stella went her own way, of course.
We painted with the coolest watercolor paints and I loved them so much, we brought a tray home and have used it several times since. You just wet the brush and swirl it around on the solid watercolor disc. If the colors get mixed, you just wipe off with a wipe or wet paper towel and let dry. Done. Farmer Sue said they should last us years.
While our artwork dried on the line, we dined under these beautiful Magnolias.
We got to see Farmer Sue riding a horse in the pasture while we ate.
The ducks were hungry too.
Then the chickens showed up to crash the party.
Matilda the Tractor
While eating lunch, we heard a donkey braying several times, but I'm not sure if we actually saw him. If we did, I wasn't able to get a good shot of him.
This girl will find a "balance beam" anywhere. And she'll want to walk on it. And jump off.
"I'm NOT ready to leave!!!" (As she yells it and stomps her feet)
"I wish I didn't have to leave here." (Much for subdued)
She kept saying this over and over. Eventually Farmer Sue heard Stella. She said that was the best compliment she could ever receive. Then she asked Stella to be her helper. Stella nodded. She asked her to take this hay and go feed Toby the bunny. He was sick and needed a special treat. Stella was so happy to help. I couldn't get a picture of her feeding him because he was being quarantined in a pen inside the hay barn and it was rather dark. Plus, I was trying to finagle with latches and such. But he was a pretty black bunny and Stella petted him for a bit before we said goodbye.
Stella somehow fell off of the picnic table at lunch and landed on her back in a bunch of mud. But she looked very authentic for her trip.
Hey look, another balance beam.
