Hay Is for...Who?

I have been attempting to make playtime at The House of Halpin more purposeful of late. Owen is like a sponge, soaking up as much knowledge of any subject as I will pass on to him. This thirst to learn is a gift I do not want to squander! (After all, before I know it, he'll be 13 and would rather toss a ball with his buddies than go on learning adventures with Mom!) One of our subjects last week was a little out of the ordinary: hay. Owen is so curious about hay, asking me zillions of questions about it whenever I point out those huge round hay bales in fields we pass. So off we trekked to Owen's Farm ("My farm, Mommy?") to see what we could see about hay.

We tried to feed the ducks some hay. They were not too thrilled about it. They did enjoy the oats O poured out for them on the ground however. ($3 worth of oats, gone in a flash!)

The buffalo were more interested in playing in the mud than in our offers of some yummy hay.

Ah! The goats and sheep! O made some fast friends with these guys who have insatiable appetites. We spent close to an hour feeding them hay, strand by strand. I was impressed by how brave the normally timid Owen was. He didn't hesitate at all when offering the goats and sheep hay he had found. The donkey must not have been very hungry, but he did enjoy a good ear scratching from O. I don't know what that's about! O called, "Come here donkey! Come here!" until finally the donkey ambled over and what did O do? Stuck his finger right in his ear! Strange!

Now for the highlight! We actually got to sit on a hay bale and go for a hay ride! Oh the excitement of it all! It turns out, O discovered that hay is a bit scratchy to the bum.

The tractor was just as intriguing as the hay itself.

I had to include this pic. The goats nibbled on more than just hay. I guess I parked Noah a tad too close!