Tumbleweed Ranch

Last week we went on a field trip with some of our friends to Tumbleweed Ranch Farm in Chandler. We had a pretty small group, so we were able to have a really good experience. We started out visiting the old farm house. We learned that the house was bought from a catalog for around $600, and all the parts were shipped by train/wagon and then assembled on site. The kids noticed that there was no electricity or water in the house and were surprised to discover that 11 people once lived in 3 (small) bedrooms. They even got to see how people washed laundry before washing machines. They saw an old ice box and learned that the little kids had the job of hauling containers of water in to the house each day. They had a chance to make fresh butter and eat it on a cracker. The kids were pretty excited to learn about daily living in the early 1900's and thought it was quite funny that they had to use outhouses.

After the farmhouse, we went to the general store to see how people bought groceries during that time period. They were surprised to see that all the food in the store fit onto two walls of shelves. They all had a chance to "buy" food and also to act as store keeper. They had to choose what they wanted to buy with $1.50 and the store keeper tallied up the price and gathered the purchases from the shelves.

At first, Aimee was a little nervous to be store keeper, but once she figured out what to do she enjoyed it a lot. She especially liked writing all her numbers on the paper. All the teachers/tour guides/docents (whatever you want to call the people giving the presentation) thought Aimee was older than she really was. They expected her to be able to do everything since she was so tall and were surprised when I told them she was still 4.

While the older kids were playing store, I tried to keep V happy by letting her play with the plastic food. She loved playing with all the apples.

 When she started to play too roughly with them, I tried to redirect her attention. She was absolutely furious at me for it and began with her screaming and arching back. (stinkin tantrums are starting early) I ended up taking her outside to play in the grass, which ended up being just weeds, but she enjoyed them anyway.

 It was a fun and informative field trip, one that I would highly suggest to other families. What made it even better was that it was free. I think we will end up doing this field trip again in the future and explore the other parts of the farm.