On the Farm
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| At Holly Hill Farm (summer 2011) |
One of the things that I love about living on the South Shore is that there is just so many places to explore. As you know, we love the beach – exploring the tide pools, climbing the rocks and searching for seaside treasures. But we also love to take long walks in the woods with our dog searching for animal tracks and looking at the nature all around us. The above photo is one of my favorites of my kids! It was taken at Holly Hill Farm in Cohasset. Holly Hill is such a magical place, you may not even know it was there on the winding, Jerusalem Road which runs between bustling Main Street and Sandy Beach, except for the painted Farm Stand sign.
Holly Hill Farm is an organic, working farm which also has some wonderful animals and fabulous walking trails. As you can see, John and Conor are mesmerized by the animals. The chickens, the goats, the horses. They just love being with them so much.
This is Pumpkin:
the resident pony at the farm. Conor always likes to go over and say hello. The farm has a new addition, a beautiful horse named Nugget who is the same shade of chocolate brown as Pumpkin. Pumpkin is yearning to play with the new horse.
Last summer John did camp at Holly Hill and it was the best decision I ever made. He loves it there so much. My nature lover. He finds walking through the woods and looking after the animals so exciting. Jon and Sally are such wonderful mentors to our children. Their love of nature, animals and organic food rubs off on the kids. Each day I’d pick John up from camp and he was so excited to tell me all the things he learned. For example, he lead Conor and I down to the goats:
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| John feeding the goats |
to show us that you could feed them mint and they loved it! On another day he took a crumpled edible flower out of his pocket because he saved it for me to try. Bless him. On the last day of camp, we celebrated with a salad party that the children harvested from the farm and had wonderfully refreshing mint water. To this day, John still loves to make mint water.
During this vacation week, John has been enjoying more time at Holly Hill with Sally. Conor and I enjoy seeing all the animals when we drop John off. Conor loves the chickens. He could spend a whole hour saying ‘Hi’ to all of them:
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| Conor and the chickens |
John is enjoying himself this week and it is so nice that he is out getting fresh air and learning so much about life on the farm. On Tuesday, the children helped get the green house ready for planting and found an owl pellet which they dissected. John was so excited about the vertebrae they found in the pellet. Yesterday, they went on a nature walk through the woods and searched for animal tracks. They built a teepee and had snack inside. Conor and I were lucky enough to see another owl pellet they found with the skull of a tiny mouse. Today they will be venturing out into the woods again and they will also be taking care of the animals.
John is so excited to do camp there in April and this summer. I’m also hoping to take John to Jeepers Peepers (an evening with the peepers) and Salamanders on the Move. If you are interested in visiting the farm, all are welcome. You can walk up through the trails and the farm stand is open in the spring through early fall. Produce and flowers are also sold at the Farmer’s Market on Cohasset Common. I particularly love their flowers, huge bunches of basil (perfect for home-made pesto or in salad), their leeks and John adores their carrots.
Can you walk up anytime to see the animals? My goddaughter is visiting this weekend and I would love to take here. Sounds like a great, fun place!
Laura
She’ll love it. You can walk up anytime and there is parking right there. There are also great walking trails.