Sweet Berry Farms Field Trip

It's spring time in ATX. Naturally, this requires a visit to Sweet Berry Farms to hang with the goats, get some strawberries and not be stuck in a classroom. This little adventure was a chance for all the elementary aged Fortis Falcons to have a stellar learning experience together in a really fun place. If you don't know Sweet Berry Farms, you should really just take a little trip down to Austin to give it a visit- you'll be glad you did.

This is Farmer Jon (It's a totally cliche name, but it's true). He gave the munchkins the down low about life on the farm. This really boils down to a few simple rules: Don't let the goats eat your fingers, don't pee on the strawberries, and do run as much as you possible can.

 The first stop was to feed the goats. Noah thinks feeding animals is the greatest thing in the world. Aidan...not so much. He actually wouldn't feed the goats. But, he had a stroke of courage right before they headed off the next station. He grabbed the longest blade of grass he could find, held on the very end, stood as far away as he possibly could, and let the goat nibble on the end.

Since it's a school field trip, they have to learn something. No big deal though. The little genius's soaked up some basics on how plants grow. They got to create a little package of pumpkin seeds to to take home to plant. Aidan was super excited about it, but we left the pumpkin seeds in the van overnight and they dried up. We haven't told him yet, so don't bring it up if you see him.

Apparently, lady bugs are a big deal at the farm. This doesn't really have anything to do with lady bugs, other than it seemed necessary to take a stereotypical cute picture with the prop. It's evidence that stereotypes exist for the reason.

We did learn that lady bugs have a major role in keeping the plants at Sweet Berry Farms alive and thriving. So, the kids got to help make the world a little better place by releasing some lady bugs into the fields. They were given a lady bug and told to go turn it loose on a flower. It was a small miracle that Noah didn't put his lady bug up his nose. What did he get in return for his excellent behavior? The lady bug flew out of his hand and disappeared before he got it to a plant. The dude was crushed and has since sworn off following directions because when you follow directions your lady bug flies away.

A day at the farm isn't complete with out some time on the gun range. Here they got to take turns with a crazy contraption that mysteriously fired strawberries at a high rate of speed. They took turns letting loose with the heavy artillery to create a flag. They'll get to display the flag in their classroom as a reminder of their glorious victory.

This is the flag that resulted from the strawberry shooting chaos. It'll be proudly displayed in the classroom.

And finally, it's time to find out if the berries at Sweet Berry Farms are all they are cracked up to be. Our little ginger went bananas picking berries. She had to be drug out of the field as she continued clawing for more berries to fit in her overstuffed bucket. When we finally got her to calm down, we asked if she wanted to try the berries she picked. "No," she said, "I don't like to eat strawberries."

 Ryla has become BFF's with the little sister of one of Aidan's classmates. Once the girls got together, they wouldn't let any adults come near. This was a paparazzi style shot taken when the least expected it.