Let’s Go to the Park!
“Let’s go to the park!”
That’s what we hear children say that visit Parky’s Farm: “Can we go to the park?”
Silly kids; our time will be spent looking at more educational aspects of this park. We will compare hay and straw hay (hay is a grass, mowed, dried and fed to livestock; whereas straw is the stem of grains used for bedding, packing etc.) or we talk of how fast hogs grow up (market weight of 250 pounds in approximately 100 days) and that there’s a big difference in the age of egg-laying chickens as opposed to meat chicken. (Six months before the first egg is laid by a hen chicken, as opposed to less than 6 weeks for broilers or chickens used for their meat!)
After all, Parky’s Farm is an educational farm, not just a place to climb on monkey bars. There are lots of jungle gyms around — this park is special, with its pigs and chickens.
It’s got a nature trail, a kite flying field, horseback riding and Special Olympics for equestrians.
There’s a pond where you can spot water snakes and bullfrogs.
There’s a wetland, a massive garden and a 100-year-old barn remodeled into a humongous playground. Plus the grounds are always open, never closed!
Now to me, a park should have a big lake. A spot to gaze over the water and relax, or fish or boat. A place to catch your dinner — that’s what a park is to me. I went to Alaska and drove Denali clear back to wonder lake! Now there’s a park. It’s got a mountain range!
Parky’s isn’t a “park.” It’s an interactive, educational playground for kids’ bodies, minds and imaginations.
Perhaps the children are telling us something when they say “Let’s go to the park!”
Eric King
Interpreter, Parky’s Farm