Saturday, April 10, 2010

Get Outdoors Challenge!




The folks over at 5 Orange Potatoes inspired me with their "Get Outdoors Challenge" for the month of April.

Having spent most of my life in suburbia, and growing up on the cusp of the internet boom, I've been witness to a growing generation of children spending more time indoors than out.

It's so important for me to raise my son with a healthy respect and reverence for the outdoors, for nature, for the earth. To understand where our food comes from, to be able to spend hours laying in grass imagining cloud shapes, to search for 4 leafed clovers and find fascination in lady bugs.

We spent our Saturday morning at a local 4-H fundraiser. What a fabulous time we had!

We met brand new, two day old baby goats:




We saw a wee baby goat nursing:


We met and held baby Easter Egg chicks. (HOW did they do that?!)



We rode a horse:



Not the best picture, but LOOK at that face!


Oh and how we did so much more! We made our own butter. We roasted marshmallows over a fire pit, we went on a hay ride. We brought home duck eggs (which The Little promptly dropped on the ground. The shells all broke, but we were able to crack the eggs into a glass pyrex dish for use later tonight and tomorrow)



It was such an amazing morning full of fun and adventure. When he's old enough I'll be placing The Little in a local 4-H group. What a wonderful way to learn about your world, livestock and nature.

Yours in the Get Outdoors Challenge,

Simple Mama

5 comments:

  1. Ah Danita!
    I did 4H, my mom was actually the leader it was awesome!! I can't wait to share stories about it with Hunter!
    Love you and can't wait to see you all soon!!
    just over 2 months!!
    Loves

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  2. It would be interesting to know how they dyed the chickens. It will also be interesting to know if it has any permanent effects on them.

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  3. Toria - In my quick research, it seems they dye the chicks with food grade dye that has no permanent effects on them. The color leaves when the baby feathers molt off and the adult feathers come in.

    The biggest problem I would imagine would come from these being sold as novelty gifts and people not knowing what to do with them after the "cute factor" wears off. Not sure how I actually feel about the process - but dyed or not baby chicks are cute.

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  4. this is such a great experience for him!!

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  5. Looks like such a great day. Was that a glimpse of you in the cuddling picture? Nice to put a face with the blog.

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