This year we
are offering two different tour packages:
(1) The U-Pick Apple Tour during apple season,
and
(2) The Alpaca Tour during the off season.
THE U-PICK APPLE TOUR
We offer
field trips to school and other groups beginning the last week in August and
continuing until mid October. We offer tours only on Monday, Tuesday and
Wednesday of each week, mornings or afternoons, during the apple season. We encourage your group
to book early, as we do limit the number of tours, and the spaces fill
quickly once school is in session. We do make special after-school
arrangements with scout and church groups.
The fee for the orchard u-pick tour
is $3.50 per child.
- Visit the
apple orchard
- View a honey
bee yard
- Watch various
poultry at work and play
- Identify
animal life in and around a pond
- Admire the
beautiful alpacas
- Discover
various uses of farm products
Depending on the age of the group, the tours last from
1-1/2 to 2 hours. It is a walking tour and includes a visit to the
dwarf orchard where the apple varieties are discussed and the students
are shown how to pick an apple from a dwarf tree without breaking off
the branches. Depending upon the varieties available, the students will
pick at least one of each of the apples available.
The bee yard is visited and the life of the
honey bee is discussed. From a safe distance the students can see
the bees flying in and out of their hives.
Next
is a visit to the poultry house and yard where the students can see
where the chickens lay their eggs, how they are fed and where they
sleep. They also try to find the roosters from the description given
them.
During the walking
tour, they might also encounter the guineas that roam freely eating
grasshoppers, ticks and lots of bugs. If we are lucky, sometimes the
group gets to see where a guinea has built a nest in some bushes or
flowers to lay her eggs. They might also encounter the African Geese as
they stroll around the farm in slow motion, generally in a line,
looking for weeds to nibble on.
We stop off at the
pond to look at all the different types of ducks swimming around. If
the group arrives in the morning, they can see the ducks and geese take
their morning bath.
The alpaca barn and pasture is
the final leg of the walking tour. The group will learn lots of things
about the alpaca; and they even get to pet a baby alpaca, feeling their
soft fiber.
The tour ends up in
our produce building, where the children wash their hands, additional
questions are answered, the observation bee hive is visited, and the
group can see fiber from the sheared alpacas and view types of clothing
the alpaca fiber is made into.
Farm Produce Building
Before the group
departs, the teachers are given
some take-home materials (honey sticks, a picture post card of the
alpacas, and a black and white drawing of
alpacas or honey bees for the children to color) for each of the
students.
A happy group of home schooled students from Fulton, Mexico
and
Centralia, Missouri who took the tour.
This tour is about 1-1/2 hours in length and can be
set up most any time during the week including weekends during the off season.
The children will have a hands-on opportunity to socialize with the alpacas.
They will learn how we care for the alpacas, trim their toe nails, worm and
weigh them monthly and what our morning and evening barn chores consist of. If the students wish, they may lead an alpaca through an obstacle course
or try to train a young alpaca to walk with a halter and lead.
The children will
get to see what we do with the fiber that is sheared off the alpacas in the
spring. They will also watch a spinning demonstration and can
participate in a weaving demonstration. As a take home project, each
participant will be making a felted project.
The fee for the alpaca tour
is $2.50 per child. Do bring your camera.
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