my city kids at farmer camp.

I am a city girl. Born and raised. When people say they grew up on a farm I think of how fabulous it must of been to grow up in the country - to walk barefoot in the wheat fields, having a little (talking) piglet like Babe as a pet, getting fresh milk from the cow and riding bareback on a horse in wide open spaces.

Then I married a country boy who grew up in those wide open spaces and it doesn't sound as glamorous as I was picturing it. Yes he did enjoy growing up with 90 acres of space to ride his dirt bike in the summer and had basically his own ski hill in his backyard in the winter. But as every farm kid knows, there are chores and a lot of them. And for Simon there were always chores that had to be done every day before school, on the weekends and there are no holidays. He said even Christmas morning he had to do chores before opening his presents under the tree. For awhile they had chickens and he collected eggs every morning. That sounds pretty fun but apparently hens aren't very fond of having their eggs stolen away. Simon ruffled a few feathers and endured a few painful pecks from their protective mothers. Legend has it that Simon's mom got so mad at a hen once because it hurt her little boy that she kicked it so hard that the hen  flew across the barn and never laid eggs again. I also forgot that farm animals get sick and taking care of a bloated cattle with pink eye is not so fun. I don't even know if I can mention it here but Simon can put castrating cattle on his list of super skills.

little Simon collecting chicken eggs

But who am I to ruin that country dream for my kids? They love going to the farm and visiting Grandma and Grandpa and going for tractor and ATV rides.  And Simon has been cultivating thier inner farmer with our backyard garden. Simon taught them how to plant seeds and water them and they were so proud to harvest our potatoes, carrots, lettuce, raspberries, strawberries and zucchinis the size of space ships.

But really experiencing the farm life means animals and we don't have any (except for the hamster which hasn't died in the 2 weeks we have owned it). Grandma and Grandpa don't have farm animals anymore either so when I saw "Farmer Camp" at the little petting zoo 10 minutes from my house, I was thrilled to sign them up.

It was the best way to experience the farm life without actually doing the hard work. The kids brushed the goats, gave a cow a bottle of milk, fed the animals their grains, had a close encounter with some pigs, collected chicken eggs (when their protective mothers weren't close by) and cuddled bunnies. Simon thought it was crazy that I was paying for them to do farm chores but now my city kids can say they were farmers for a week. Nothing wrong with that right?