Bison? In Connecticut? Who Knew?!

Being a born and raised New Englander, especially one who spent the majority of her life in Connecticut, it came as a total suprise to me to read on one of the homeschool Yahoo groups that we are on that a field trip was being planned to a bison farm in Connecticut!  Really?  We have bison in Connecticut?!  I was in shock!  Quickly I replied that we would love to join in the field trip fun and we anxiously awaited for today to arrive.  The girls and I packed a picnic lunch, hopped in the car and headed to Brooklyn Connecticut to Creamery Brook Bison Farm for what promised to be a truly unique adventure!

The fun started with making ice cream.  The girls loved it!

After ice cream it was time to board the wagon and head out to the fields (where the buffalo roam)!

Look! There really are bison in Connecticut!

We learned that baby bison (called calves) have a birth weight of 50 pounds!

When we got back to the farm, we all got to help make butter from the cream that was left over from making ice cream.  The girls loved shaking the container. and even told David at dinner tonight how "butter is easier to make than ice cream, Daddy!"  Even better though, is when we got to eat it!

It was such a great trip!  The weather was incredible, we learned lots of new things and met some really great people!  And now we know, that yes, there are indeed bison in Connecticut!

A Journey To Where It All Began

Today we decided to take a road trip to Plimoth Plantation (courtesy of museum pass from the town library).  When we left home it was a gorgeous, blue sky day, and yet the closer we got to Plymouth the cloudier and windier it became.  But as the good New Englanders we are we bundled up and continued on, determined to pay homage to where it all began.  All this month we have been reading lots of books about the First Thanksgiving and so it was a great field trip for the girls to see the place and meet the people that they have heard so much about. 



We learned that this dwelling is called a wetu. 

Heading to see where the Pilgrims lived. 

The girls loved seeing these chickens in the house!

We all loved seeing the chicks go under their mama to get warm!  She fit all six of them under there, it was absolutely incredible.  And yes, this spring, a flock of chickens is so in our future!

We had a great time at Plimoth Plantation, although there was not as much to do there as there is at Old Sturbridge Village.  The Plantation was very mellow, with not all that much going on today.  We are not sure if that is the normal vibe of the place or if the cold weather was keeping things from happening.  We loved learning that it's more polite to use the term "native people" when refering to the original inhabitants of this land.  And we loved learning more about what life was like before the settlers arrived. It was great to be there with Thanksgiving just a few weeks away.  Kinda brought it all in perspective, I guess you could say.  It is a place we will certainly return when the girls are older and studying about that time period. xo