60 FARM:
Description
This article is from the Outdoor Activities for Young Children FAQ, by Gloria Logan glogan@atk.com with numerous contributions by others.
60 FARM:
Sorry to post this all over the U.S., but I thought that limiting it to
the San Francisco Bay Area might be too restrictive. Besides, if
you're visiting California from out of the area, it might be a great
activity for you.
We just spent the weekend at Emandal Farm in Northern California, just
north of the town of Willits, about 60 miles inland from Mendocino. It
was *great*, and I thought other people might like to know about it and
get on their mailing list.
Emandal is a family-run working farm that has taken in weekend guests
since 1908. The guests are housed in small (tiny) cabins scattered up
the hill from the main part of the farm; there are about 20 of them of
various sizes.
The farm is about 1000 acres. They raise goats, chickens, turkeys,
pigs, cows, and horses. Most of these animals are housed together in
one giant pasture. The kids can help with egg-gathering, milking,
feeding, etc. There is also a very large garden (with 300 tomato plants
this year, to give you an example). Depending on the time of year,
there are different chores to do in the garden. This weekend, for
example, we picked the last of the tomatoes and peppers, along with
various vegetables for meals that were cooked while we were there.
Other weekends, they might pick apples and make apple cider, make
compost heaps, etc.
The food deserves a paragraph of its own. Tamara, one of the owners,
is a very gifted cook. Most of the food is vegetarian, and most of it
comes from the farm. For those of you who have been to Green's
restaurant or Tassajara Hot Springs, I'd say the quality is the same,
though the dishes at Emandal are a bit less elegant. You eat in a
communal dining room with all the other families. There is fresh-baked
bread, warm from the oven, at almost every meal. Just as you've
finished eating all the good things in the main courses, out come warm
pies with homemade ice cream, or warm chocolate chip cookies. It's
deadly. It's especially tempting to eat lots when you know that the
pigs get the leftovers. We did have one meat dish at Sunday lunch -
the sandwich fixings included ham from one of the farm pigs. My
3-year-old, Emma, wasn't bothered by this, but some of the older kids
who had played with the pigs were a little dismayed.
Things to do: mostly, you can just hang out. The kids run around with
the animals, climb on the farm equipment, play on the lawn, etc. The
main side activity is swimming in the river. Three miles of the Eel
River run through the property, and it's just a short walk to a good
swimming area (wide and calm enough for 4-year-olds to take plastic
inflatable boats out). There are also hiking trails and a lake on the
property. Each cabin has a large hammock, big enough for two adults
to read in while their 3-year-old takes a nap inside. There is a big
campfire area where near the cabins where families can build a fire
at night. On the Saturday night while we were there, the owners had
a arranged a square dance with a professional caller. We began with
hokey-pokey, and when we graduated to more traditional folk dances the
kids still got to join in.
The guest season is over for this year. It starts again in early May.
Family weekends are in May, August, September, and part of October.
In June and July they run week-long summer camps for kids. When we
called in April, this weekend in October was the only one left. I
think they start booking at the beginning of each year. In California,
call 1-800-262-9597 to get a brochure. Next year, I think we'll try
for two weekends ourselves, one in the early season when the garden is
just getting started, and one closer to harvest time.
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