Spring Valley Farm

Last Sunday we had a pretty nice day and went with my friend Anja and her two boys, Alex and Tyler, to Spring Valley Farm in Schaumburg.  The boys hadn't been on a farm in a while, and this was very rustic and fun.  We got to tour some buildings from the 1880's and see how different they were -- mostly kitchens devoted to all kinds of work.  Outside, the boys took turns putting apples in a crusher operated by cranking on a big arm connected to some gears.  Then the mash was transferred to this wooden pot, topped with a cap that got pushed down as the boys turned a crank, making cider.  I'm not sure why, but we spent the better part of an hour making cider, which they wouldn't even taste.  They just liked crushing and smashing the apples.

The four boys managed to work together to get this thing moving all over the farmyard.  Well, three of them got it going while Jason just sat there sucking on a honey stick.

Later, the boys used another hand-operated machine to get corn kernels off cobs, then ground the kernels into corn meal. There was a station set up to mix in cream and eggs, then the mixture was put into a pot over an open fire to make cornbread.  Now, I've made cornbread at home, but for some reason this was much more fun for them to eat.  Later on, we made a batch at home too to go with dinner.

We took all afternoon to explore the farm, hiking the trails, and participating in the events like the autumn junior olympics, which had a bunch of events set up for the kids like building corn cribs, launching corn cobs through hoops, and pounding wooden nails through boards with a giant wood hammer.  Did I mention this place was capital R rustic?  Below, Jason gets a little too friendly with a massive horse that nearly had a finger snack, but thankfully Jason was quicker than the horse.