Pilgrims and Popcorn

How about something a little lighter for this Thanksgiving post? 

A little over a week ago, the kids and I (minus Dr. Jiggles who was out of town with Sticks) visited a local farm that does educational programming in the late fall months.  We went to learn what life was like as a Plymouth Pilgrim! 

It was pretty well done, although Little Weed #4, having virtually no background on the history of this country, was a little baffled by the experience. 

We started out with a hayride and some close sibling bonding time (read: packed in like sardines!)

 

 

 

And before you say anything, yes, I do realize how very blessed I am to have an adolescent son who is such an amazing big brother.  :)

 

 

After the hayride, we rotated between three stations.  The first was the barn where the farmer Pilgrim told us about all the work they did to produce their first successful crop.  He described a day in the life of a Pilgrim boy in the 1620's.

 

 

Next we went to the Wampanoag Indian longhouse where we learned about the amazing amount of assistance the Indians provided for the Pilgrims in the early days.  The role they played in the survival of the colony was certainly downplayed in my early education!  Did you know that since Pilgrims bathed only once per year, their "scent" made it nearly impossible for them to hunt successfully?  Yikes! No wonder so many starved to death that first winter!

 

 



 

The last station was a Pilgrim woman describing her trip to the New World as well as a detailed account of the role she and her daughters played in the well-being of the family.  These women were tough!!!  By this time, #4 was pretty much over the Pilgrim thing.  Ziggity and Sweet One stayed to listen while #4 and I hung out in the car for a few minutes.

The favorite part of the field trip may have been the games time after all the stations had been visited.  We learned about Pilgrim playtime and tried our hand at a few games.

 

The boys LOVED the cat and mouse game.  #4 and Ziggity were two of the last three mice standing, so they were both pretty proud.

 

With the official field trip complete, we decided to head over and check out the corn maze.  We had to, of course, take advantage of the commemorative photo op.

 

 

And then spent some time running around, getting lost, and then cheating to get out of the maze. 

 

One of the crops grown on the farm is popcorn, so each of us got to pick our own ear to take home.  We decided to see if we could pop ours right on the ear!  Sweet One and Little Weed #4 were both thrilled to watch that happen!  And pretty happy about eating it too!

Since that field trip, we've learned a lot more about that early colony, why those folks were so thankful at the time of that first Thanksgiving, and why we now commemorate the occasion with a day of thankfulness of our own.  It really is a pretty cool holiday.