This post could probably be filed under "would have been more useful to tell you about it before we went than after," but whatevs. I'm totally over it. I am playing the NINE MONTHS pregnant/have a 21 month old/still moving card. I just do the best I can, which these days is really not so great.

Anywho, Little Man and I spent Sunday afternoon taking advantage of the East Lyme Open Farm Day. It was a ton of fun! We visited four farms tucked away in the beautiful back roads of East Lyme.

We started at Christensen Farm on Grassy Hill Road. They raise horses, chickens, sheeps, goats and rabbits. We didn't see any rabbits or goats, but they had some very friendly sheep! Little Man can go either way with animals - for example, he wanted NOTHING to do with the horses (other than to talk about them "HOAR-CEES! NAAY!!"), but was ALL ABOUT the sheep, going up and petting them ("Oh Sheepie-hoo!! Touch? Niiice?"). They were seriously friendly sheep.

Next, we visited Cranberry Meadow Farm, just a few driveways down on Grassy Hill. This was a truly beautiful farm. We had a hayride from the front field over to the farm proper. I guess they are known for their pork and beef, although we didn't see any pigs or cows. That was a little sad because I know Little Man would have liked them. He did really like their HUGE oxen, though. Shockingly, he even fed one. I was mildly afraid that he (she?? I have no idea...) might eat Little Man's hand right off, but he/she was very gentle.

He was also a big fan of the super tall swings in the front yard as well as the free lemonade and homemade oatmeal raisin cookies (I guess Farm Day qualifies as a "special occasion" where he gets to eat some gluten. Oh right, file the gluten thing under "things I could be blogging about but haven't" as I hold up the aforementioned prego/toddler/new house card).

I was a big fan of finding a place that raises happy pigs and cows, naturally fed without steroids etc etc... I certainly don't need my kids hitting puberty at like 8 years old, so we try to keep the extra hormones out of the mix as much as possible. I look forward to going back to try some of their meats!

After the oxen, we headed to 5C Farm on Walnut Hill Road. They had horses and cute little German Shepherd pups. They also had a bunny, some chickens, and a turkey. Little Man liked the animals, but the hoar-cees were doing a lot of loud talking and that was a little scary for him. They also had the little miniature horses. If I was a good mom, who had half a brain and wasn't nine months pregnant, I would have asked what kind of horses they were. But I didn't. They were just his size though, but as I said--he wasn't a big fan of the hoar-cees.

We wrapped up our farm tour at our usual farm--White Gate Farm on Upper Pattagansett Road. We love White Gate. They have laying hens, and eating chickens (I have no idea what they are really called, but you know--not the chickens that lay eggs, but the ones you eat), as well as baby turkeys (something else I am sure has a proper name, but I am to tired to go type "baby turkey name" up in the Google seach box), and lambs.

Little Man loves to say hi and bye to all the animals and sing "Oh Sheepie-hoo!" as we run through the fields (WonderPets? Anyone?). The really great thing about White Gate though is their farm stand. It is usually open on Wednesdays and Saturdays, but was opened special on Sunday as well. They have all sorts of usual and unusual organically grown produce. They also sell their eggs and their chickens, bread and cheeses that are brought in, and they make a lot of different things (hot sauce, pestos, vinegrette, sauces and so on). I love everything I have ever bought there, and lots of the stuff has samples out for you to try. If you haven't been, you should go, I am sure you will find something yummy to take home with you!

Some of you probably had a great day at the farms too! Some of you are probably cursing me out, thinking it would have been something really fun to do if only someone had told you about it. Oops. Either way, we hope you had a great weekend!