So this place was great. I don’t normally say that, but other than a false start trying to have a picnic in peace from the yellow jackets, it really was a cool place. This is a rather large former homestead family farm that is still a working farm owned by the Three Rivers Parks.

After our unfortunate picnic attempt at the tables, we stopped by the small store and the restroom as there are not many restrooms on site for obvious reasons. The restrooms are clean and appear fairly new. We did not go into the rather large education barn as there wasn’t an event the day we visited. Again we visited on a low traffic day to avoid crowds.

Outside of the barn was an large teaching garden for kid based events. The kiddos however loved the hay bale maze. Kid Willow rather enjoyed climbing on top and running around. Whereas Baby Willow wanted to play the typical combo of Hide and Seek with Catch Me If You Can. When we finally were able to corral them, we headed out for the trails which was definitely the part of the farm I enjoyed.

The beginning of the trail toward the lake and the long loop trail had many cows and calves. We saw the young turkeys, a few pigs and oddly enough a tiny flock of sandhill cranes. The large produce patch was impressive.

Our big surprise was seeing the hummingbirds along the massive cattail marsh area. At first we thought they were large dragonflies, but upon closer inspection it was a small flock of hummingbirds. They were so tiny.

Finally we reached the lake. Seeing as the waterlily blossoms have gone to seed there was a very different feel to the lily pads. If you were quiet enough you could hear the pads make clicking noises as they knocked into each other.

We then enjoyed the forested area of the trail. It was a bit longer than the kiddos expected so they enjoyed having a lift from C along the way. Soon enough forest opened up to a massive rolling hay field/grazing land. It was bright green. It was during this time that the kiddos enjoyed examining the grasshoppers on the trail. We stopped frequently for these observations. It’s still cool to see the kiddos have the same fascination with insects I had as a child.

As we closed the loop of our walk a couple the older calves were a bit more friendly and greeted us through the fence. We didn’t stick around much as the kiddos were tired by this point which seems rarer as the days go by. I went back to the shop to take a second glance at the offerings and bought some treats to share later.

Truth be told, I want to go back. Soon enough we’ll go to an event and see the inside of the barn and the rest of the chicken area. The roosters seem to be chatty enough for it.

By for now.