We went to the Stafford Family Farm in VA last weekend. As usual we were well fed and taken care of, Jacob loved being outside and we had a wonderful time. This trip, however, we had an extra little adventure that just cracked me up.
On Sunday morning I was inside with Mike’s grandmother, Eleanor (affectionately called Erner) and Jacob, finishing up breakfast when Jacob yelled, “there are cows in your backyard.” While there are cows on the farm, they are usually on the other side of the property gated in. As a result of my knowing this, and Jakey’s active imagination, I just thought he was being silly. That is, of course, until Erner shockingly replied, “There are cows in my backyard.” You see the neighbors cows had gotten out of the field that they are usually fenced in and moseyed over to the yard. I am not sure what shocked me more, the fact that there were cows 20 feet from the house, or that fact that no one but Jacob and I seemed too excited about it. Erner calmly called the neighbor and I called Mike’s brother, Shane, to let him know they were going to the hay fields.
With Shane at the market, it left Mike and me to try to get the cows out of the fields. And thus . . . our adventure started! Although Mike has trouble with physical things, I knew I could not do this alone. Because of Mike’s back he can’t do too much walking and would have serious trouble chasing cows, so we went to get the “rhino” for some assistance. The rhino is like a supped up, 4 wheel-drive golf cart on steroids. Not wanting to miss the action Jacob came with Mike and me on the rhino to drive through the fields and chase the cows back home. Being near people and farm equipment quite often, the cows were not extremely concerned as we ventured toward them in the rhino. This prompted Mike to start waving his walking stick and yelling something that sounded like, “Hee-Ya, Hee-ya, go on cows.” Now imagine this in his a southern accent and a grumbley, yelling voice. If that doesn’t, “have you tickled” as my in-laws would say, now imagine my 3-year-old son imitating this. Oh, and to add to the humor, imagine this suburban girl (me) driving a rhino and yelling along. I am sure to a bystander, especially one who knows me, this whole thing was rather amusing.
Eventually we got the cows back toward their property and Jacob and I went inside to get cleaned up. As I walked in, I thought to myself how nice it is for Jacob to get such cool experiences by hanging out on the farm. Not many kids spend several weekends a year chasing cows, feeding horses apples, planting football field-sized vegetable gardens and learning about calves while watching farmers on tractors mow the fields. And, he gets to do this on beautiful land in the mountains surrounded by family that loves him.
This weekend may have had a special added adventure, but overall most weekends at the farm are pretty cool and I love getting to watch Jacob spend time there. This picture is not of our adventure but I just love it!
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