Maps

Welcome back!

Did you get to travel to someone's house for Thanksgiving? Are you going to someone's house during Christmas vacation?

When we drive somewhere the driver often has a GPS or phone that has a map to show them where to go so they don't get lost.

We use maps on the farm, too. When we have people do our chores they need to know where everything is, where each of the animals live, where to find the food, and where the gates are.

If you looked at our farm from an airplane, this is what you would see.

This is what a map of our farm would look like.
This is a map that we've used for people who come help on the farm.

There are a few differences from the airplane view and the map I drew because the photo is older. We've moved a few fences, added a fence, and added a hay barn. Can you see any other changes?

This is what it looks like when I walk out to the barn in the morning.
Right now the ground is covered with snow, not with grass.

The big white door is usually closed.
It's open so you can see inside the barn.
If I leave the door open all the time then Echo, River, and Serenity would make a mess inside.

There are two milk stands.
Do you recognize the blue hang over bucket?
Do you see the blue hose on the left?
It's a special hose that has a heater in it.
We plug it in in the winter so the water in the hose doesn't freeze.
We can use the hose to fill the water buckets around the farm even when there is ice on the ground.

This is what the right side of the barn looks like.
This is the south side of the barn.
You can see 3 stall doors.
The door closest in the picture is the stall where Echo, River, and Serenity sleep at night.
The middle and far doors are where Annie, Misty, and Clover sleep at night.
Stalls are like bedrooms for animals. They come inside when the weather is bad, and they come inside to sleep.

This is the back of the barn.
If I open the big door on the back, the bucks will come running inside.
Two big bales of hay weigh about the same as a small car! That's heavy!
It takes about 2 weeks for the animals to eat a whole bale of hay.

On the other side of the barn we keep grain in big, blue barrels.
We buy grain in bags. Do you see the two stacks of bags to the right of the blue barrels?
We store food for the animals just like you store food at home.Do you see the white door? That's how we get into the chicken pen.

The chicken pen is under the roof.
The chickens need shelter from the weather just like the other animals.
And you can see our red tractor!The little dog house is for the ducks.
They need shelter when it gets cold, too.
Sometimes they go into the chicken pen,
sometimes they like to get into the dog house.

Here is a map I drew of the inside of our barn.

I hope you enjoyed this tour of our farm!
Do you see how useful maps are? The people who come take care of our animals while we are gone like having a map to see where all the animals are supposed to be. The like knowing where the food is, and where to find everything they need.

Photos from the Farm – Barn Layout * 18 September 2015

Welcome Back!

I hope you had a wonderful week! Did you enjoy all the rain we had? It got muddy around the farm, but I love the rain so I don't mind the mud.

You're teacher said you are still working on maps. Did you draw a map of your classroom, or your bedroom?

I thought you might like to see a map of our barn.

This is what I see when I walk out to milk the goats. It's not always this messy looking, but we've been very busy the last few weeks and haven't had time to clean everything up.

A little closer. You can see the milk stand in the middle of the big, open door. We don't leave the big door open very often.

Do you see the blue hose on the left of the door? That's where we get water for the animals' water buckets. You can see both milk stands with the short milk stool between the two stands. The stand on the left is a tall stand, the stall on the right is a short stand. The goats stand on the milk stands and eat some grain while I milk them. They love being milked because they always get grain.

If you walk past the milk stands you can see the three stalls on the right side of the barn. Stalls are like bedrooms for animals. They don't live there all the time, but they sleep and eat there. They need shelter from the rain, snow, and from the sun in the hot summer.

Look at the hay bales! They are so big! It takes the animals about one month to eat a whole bale. Two bales weighs about the same as a small car, that's heavy!

On the other side of the barn we keep grain in big, blue barrels. We buy grain in big bags. Do you see the two stacks of bags to the right of the blue barrels? We store food for the animals just like you store food at home.
Do you see the white door? That's how we get into the chicken pen.

The chicken pen is under the roof. The chickens need shelter from the weather just like the other animals.
And you can see our red tractor!
The little dog house is for the ducks. They need shelter when it gets cold, too. Sometimes they go into the chicken pen, sometimes they like to get into the dog house.

If I draw a map of the barn, this is what it looks like.
If you look at last week's post you'll see what the barn looks like if you are looking down from an airplane.
A map is a drawing of the same thing.

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This chick was just born on Tuesday, 15 September 2015.
We are lucky to have nice hens that let me pick up their chicks!

Here is another one that was born on the same day.
Two hens hatched out 5 chicks. One hen hatched out 2 chicks.
How many chicks did the other hen hatch out?

This is the same little chick. Chicks are loud when they want their mama hen!
What other sounds do you hear?

This is what the mama hen and her 3 chicks look like when they are looking for food.
The mama hen is teaching her chicks how to follow her, and how to find food and water to eat and drink.

Here is one of the chicks that was born on the first day of school.
How old is this chick?
This chick is a little more than 4 weeks old!

This hen is fierce! She protects her chicks by pecking and attacking anyone that comes close!
We keep her because she's a good mama hen.
She is such a good mama hen that she adopted some chicks that were born the same day, but they were born in an incubator.

This is an incubator.
It keeps the temperature and the moisture just right so that eggs will hatch.

It also keeps new chicks warm right after they are born.

I hope you have a great week!

See you soon!