Silo Christmas Tree Farm and Pumpkin Patch

Yesterday was our field trip with the local homeschoolers.  We went to Silo Christmas Tree farm and pumpkin patch, a 100 year old farm.  It was educational, fun, and a little bit long for the little ones.  That's definitely a trip I'd suggest for older kids.  Younger ones have a much shorter attention span.

Just on personal choice, I love this farm.  They've reused everything they've removed from the old farm when renovating and reused it.  Many old pieces of the house, the fences, and everything else can be found all around the farm.  They collect rain water to water their vegetable garden.  They compost, and take in Christmas trees for recycling into compost as well.  They even compost their coffee grinds!  Many of their annual flowers drop seeds and reseed themselves.  They don't chemical means of bug control.  Butterflies and moths were everywhere.  There was even a humming bird that zipped in to take a quick snack off a sage bush before flying off.  Their organic and sustainable approach to the world around them is inspirational.  They even line dry their clothing, when possible!





They grow so much more than Christmas Trees and pumpkins there.  They have a small garden in the back of their house where they grow corn, asparagus, potatoes, strawberries, red and green lettuce, radishes, and so much more.  It may not be enough to sell and sustain the farm, but it's yet another example of living sustainably for one's own family.  They had more varieties of pumpkins than I'd ever heard of as well, and two kinds of Christmas trees, Afghanistan Pine and some kind of Cyprus that's completely scentless and doesn't inflame an allergy to Christmas trees.  There was a walk through the woods where the kids learned about juniper trees, cedar, and Texas black persimmon.  There was an example shown of poison ivy and poison sumac, so kids would know what to look for.  We walked across a deer highway, which wouldn't look like much if you didn't know it was supposed to be.  Then, when approaching a patch of prickly pear cactus, we learned about what those cactus are good for.  Apparently when cooked over a fire they taste just like potato chips, only better!

The buildings on the land were gorgeous.  The farm house, painted a bright and cheery yellow with a metallic looking roof didn't look like all that much, but it had it's own simplistic beauty, complete with the classic porch swing.  Out in front of the house was a flower garden with plenty of plants to attract humming birds and butterflies.  I think the owner would have been happy to describe a few of the features of the garden and leave it like that, but my partner asked her what kinds of plants she had in the garden.  She went over a few of the names, but then when she realized that everyone was starting to take interest, she almost lit up as she started explaining what each of them were.  I was fascinated!  I just wish I could remember more of them!  That trip was more educational for the adults than I thought it would be!  My oldest son wanted to go in the house so badly.  He thought it was a pretty house.  As it turns out, they have tours every spring when they do their Easter Egg hunt!  They hide all the eggs in the Christmas trees too!  We may have to head out for that!  I think my son would love it!  I think they all would enjoy a trip like that!

The silo was huge.  I'll admit, I've never actually seen a real silo before.  I'd known they were to hold grain, but I never really understood why.  I always thought there must be some door or something at the bottom, but there isn't.  Apparently silos are for making silage, a very hearty food for dairy cattle.  They would blow up the grain to the top of the silo to drop it in.  Then they would let the grain sit and compact over time until it had turned into silage.  Unfortunately, I don't remember quite as much about that portion of the trip as I'd like.  I think one of these days I'm going to have to do some more research on silos and what they actually do.  It was actually cute, one of the owners asked the kids what they thought a silo was used for.  One of the kids said, "A house for REALLY BIG SPIDERS!"  Everyone laughed because there were some massive spider webs in there!  In the end, there were a lot of facts about that one, not-so-little silo.  I almost wish I'd had the opportunity to go on a trip like that when I was younger.  As I'm sure you can tell by the photo, that silo is anything but small!  My older sons and I were trying to catch up to the nature walk which went into the woods behind the silo, and my partner stopped us for a photo op.  To give you a good example, my older son could stand in one of those little windows and he would probably just be rubbing the top of his head on that beam!

Another topic at the farm was it's original use.  It wasn't always a Christmas Tree farm and pumpkin patch.  Once upon a time it was a dairy farm.  It was chosen for it's location, being exactly four miles from the three major towns in the area, Killeen (now known for Fort Hood), Temple, and Belton.  The farm provided milk for all of those cities, which were just towns at the time.  The family would get up at 4am every morning to milk the cows.  The milk wagon would haul the milk out to it's destination, which was a four hour trip.  Two hours would be spent delivering the milk, then the trip would return for another four hours.  By the time they got home they had just enough time to eat and milk the cows again before going to be to start it all over again.  Of course, back in those days all kids were homeschooled and the whole family worked the farm together, so it wasn't anything like dairy farms today.  Great sums of ice were transported down from the north to put in ice chests and ice boxes, but there was no way those could be used for the milk, so the milk was loaded up in the truck and insulated with hay to help keep it from spoiling.  In the winter, temperatures greatly aided this, but summers must have been rough.  Our hay ride in the back of the milk wagon gave us a pretty good idea of what it must have been like for that long haul.  Back then it would have been pulled by horses, not a tractor, but on unpaved roads and for such a long trip, I can't imagine it would have been any more gentle!

After all the educational talks were done, the games were brought out before lunch.  There was a competition to dress the farmer.  There was a duck race where the children actually had to pump water to send their duck down the shoot.  It was wonderful for the kids to learn how to use the pumps!  They got to play a beanbag toss game and Texas Washers, both games being harder than even I expected!  Even the adults had a hard time with them!  There was even a maze made up of old palates.  While the older kids had an easy time making their way through, it was perfect for the younger kids.  They were able to see over the tops of the palates to easily see where to go next.  All of the kids had a blast, and that maze seemed to be a favorite for all of them.  A bunch of them kept going back through!

After everyone was tired and all wound down from the games, it was time for lunch.  A bunch of the group headed home after the games were done, but a number of families stayed through to eat their lunch over by the pumpkins.  The kids all seemed alive with chatter about everything that had been done.  The parents seemed to be focused on their expectations, where they were met and where they weren't.  I think the parents were overall a little disappointed, but the kids definitely didn't seem it in the least!  It seemed like quite a successful trip!  There were tons of questions asked as each of the kids ate their lunches.  It seems like a few friendships were made too, at least for my own children.  They've never much been involved in a homeschooling group or organization, so we had no idea what to expect.  Overall, I think they were quite pleased with the way everything turned out.  It was a good day for all of us and we had a lot of fun.  Sitting over lunch, I had a great opportunity to see that.  It was wonderful to have the kids so involved with other kids their own age!

After lunch the families slowly started to disperse.  The children each got to pick a mini-pumpkin.  A bunch of them were over playing tether ball while waiting for the other kids to finish, something I hadn't seen since I was a kid!  They looked at all the pumpkins and asked about a million more questions.  A bunch of them went off to play on a giant stack of hay, which seemed to be the biggest hit of the day.  Isn't it amazing where kids can find fun if you just let them go?  It was wonderful to see them all playing outside in the fresh air, really enjoying being outside with no serious need for anything but the world around them and imagination.  It was really refreshing after having so many experiences with kids who don't seem to know what to do if there aren't toys, televisions, or video games within easy access.  I love getting to watch kids being the way I remember kids being when I was younger!  This was a wonderful experience and I really hope to be able to do it again in the future.  I really love this homeschool group.  The kids are all wonderful.  My family had a great time.  I think this will be a step in the right direction for us.  I just hope that as our lives carry us forward, we can continue to get involved with wonderful homeschooling events such as this one!  This definitely made my our day!