Animal Farm

"This world is big and wild and half insane.
Take me where real animals are playing.
Just a dirty old shack,
Where the hound dogs bark...
On Animal Farm, my animal home."
- The Kinks





This morning we headed north of Dallas to visit the Heritage Farmstead Museum. Built in 1891 in a region of rich blackland soil by Hunter Farrell for his wife Mary Alice and daughter Ammie, what is now known as the Heritage Farmstead was a pretentious, yet practical, farmhouse. Its elaborate jigsaw trim was characteristic of the time; wrap-around porches and north-south orientation with opposing doorways satisfied the need for shade and cross-ventilation in a period before air conditioning.



After running around the farm, meeting the animals, checking out the buildings, and smelling the rosemary we headed inside the Foreman's Cottage for Friday's at the Farmstead. Each Friday at 1030 they offer a 90 minute themed lesson geared towards children ages 2-5. Today's theme was "counting." We began with a story than walked around the farm with a bag collecting 'nature's treasures' while counting them. Then returned inside to make a craft out of our collection.




We had a great time and stayed to enjoy a picnic lunch following. We will return in the spring once the farm is in bloom and the weather is a tad bit warmer.

Today's photos!