June 4th Here We Come!

Heritage Farm survived!  The vicious storms did take their toll on the big field and tried its best to muddy up the farm but the Perry crew overcame that hurdle rather quickly.  Although the annual festival was cancelled all is not lost.  Get ready for June 4th!  Recycled Beauty is the theme for that Saturday of celebration and from 10-3 it will be like a mini festival!  Demonstrations of all types will be shown such as blacksmithing, rug braiding, spinning, and don't forget to bring the kids. 

Calling all kids!  Wagon rides throughout the farm is a great way to take in the pretty settings and children love them.  The Petting Zoo is the highlight of any child's day. Be sure to take the kids for a visit so they can see up close little goats, baby lambs, chickens, peacocks, our llama, etc.  Delicious food will be served.  The pinto beans are to die for!  Yummm!

                     Take a listen and watch the kiddos interact with the Belle and her babies!  So cute!

Be sure to pop by the new welcome area right beside the office.  It is a lovely spacious room that allows visitors to watch a quick video showing how Mike and Henriella Perry began Heritage Farm and the progress made to bring it to its glory today.  What a perfect way to begin your tour.  I love the old photos and the farm looked so different back in the day!   Gorgeous pieces of glass are displayed as well as other gifts ready for purchase.  Heritage has been very busy this Spring.  They also built a new addition to Heritage Hall expanding it to allow for larger groups. What a great place for a meeting, I love all of the windows and this room is no comparison to the usual drab and closed in meeting areas provided by most hotels.  Recently the folks from the Cabell County Board of Education brought 120 for an all day meeting including a catered lunch (Heritage Hall can accommodate 200 very nicely).  Thank you Cabell County BOE!

The crew at Heritage Farm have stayed busy with school tours throughout the Spring season and prepping for the upcoming Way Back Weekend events. Be sure to mark your calendars on June 4th and come celebrate Recycled Beauty.  Some of the museums will be open and ready for you, the animals anxiously await for the happy children, and plenty of food can be had making June 4th a perfect way to spend your Saturday! See you soon!

The Kids are Coming!

Most of the farm animals love when the school kids arrive....they mooooed, bahahahaaaaed, and squawked  as soon as they could hear the youngsters exit the bus. What friendly greetings!  Audy Perry asked me to accompany them on the tour so that I did and it was a lot of fun.

This morning they only had a group of 40 which was split into two sets. (Heritage Farm is a very popular attraction for the tri-state school children due to the educational benefits they receive during their visit).  I joined the kids with their teachers on the wagon ride and rode in the very back. We passed the big dairy barn and stopped while Audy described the animals who used to live in the beautiful structure.  We then back tracked  down to the other end going thru the covered bridge.  The kids delighted in being jostled around while I whinced at each bump trying to save my poor arthritic spine.  They laughed with glee at the very fact that I did not like those bumpy bumps and continued to happily bounce in their seats until we arrived at the wooded fenced area.  Moulan, the resident cow, along with her friends; a sheep, a pot bellied pig, two donkeys and the sweet little black dog live beneath the tall shady trees separated with fencing but allowing good visuals so each breed can see each other. Moulan moooed a loud hello causing all sorts of human variations attempting to mimic her call.  For a minute I regressed and began moooing away with the kids....I must admit it was fun and it tickled them to see an 'old' person acting like their age which came very easily for me!

After Audy's entertaining but educational explanations about each animal, we were on our way back into the village for a stop at the Children's Hand's On Center.  The tiny bodies formed into a line and one by one entered the vintage building. Cute little hand painted chairs allowed each child a seat while they listened to the guide explain how Appalachian life was lived back in the day.  Afterwards, they got to milk a cow ( a fake cow), grind some corn, wash some clothes, churn butter, pump water out of the well and peek inside the (fake) chicken nests to see the eggs.  I enjoyed watching how the kids interacted with the tasks. I didn't see too many boys 'wash' clothes, but all of them milked the cow and pumped the water.

Time to go back outside to the petting area!  This was very exciting for the children and once again they repeated the various noises they were hearing. Mother sheep was the loudest of the four legged creatures and I couldn't wait to get in there to see her.  She had two baby lambs by her side!  After sanitizing our hands, the fun began....Audy educated the children about turtles and chickens while his wife Laura held two sweet little bunnies then later a frightened yellow duckling.

The kids absolutely loved petting the soft fur and seeing the farm animals. At times I couldn't even tell what they touching!  The goats impatiently stuck their heads out of their pens for attention while the llama offered kisses.  Mary the resident sheep occasionally emitted a deep baaahahaa while Mother sheep continued her own call but the little lambs remained silent while smiling at everyone.  Even the peacocks joined in the fun!

The final portion of the tour led us all up to the Industrial building where the kids listened about the various jobs that were held as time progressed.  They learned about timber and coal and toured the coal mine.  There was a sign forbidding photos, but as you bent over while in the mine you could see several different displays featuring  mannequins posed as miners performing their labor intensive jobs with picks and shovels, etc. Words could not describe the difficult conditions and it was good for the kids to see this.

The tour was now over and all of the kids walked, skipped and hopped back to the bus while their growing minds filed the new experiences into happy but educational memories.  What fun it was to have shared this tour with them!  A big thanks goes to Audy and the crew both human and furry for being such wonderful hosts!

Wonderful, Wild and Woolly

Heritage Farm's first event, part of the new Way Back Weekend series went over extremely well!  The weather held out and the sheep herding demonstrations attracted a lot of attention.  What fun it was to watch the border collie's at work directing the four Dorset sheep around the grassy field. Suzanne Long of Squirrel's Nest Farm Border Collies from NC did a superb job.  That sweet face above and my favorite of the four is Number 22 (they don't name their sheep). She is the alpha though her age will soon prevent her from leading. It was really nice having area spinners and weavers share their talents and display such beautiful creations.  Even the food was fabulous.  The pinto beans were delicious. Thankfully the event was timed just right. Wild and Woolly ended around 3:00 before the severe storms had a chance to soak the land with torrential rains.

Audy gave some friends a wagon ride over to see the sheep herding.

Everyone was waiting and watching while sheep could care less mowing the grass with their quick jaws. 

Sukey and Bess following directions from Suzanne Long.

Sukey being older and experienced, rarely took her eyes from Suzanne.

Bess, around two years old, is still learning.

See?  Sukey still watches Suzanne while Bess might want to play.

At the end of the demonstration, Suzanne plays follow the leader with no voice commands.  Pretty good!

Beautiful creations could be purchased.

Time flew by and another demonstration began as I was leaving.