Thursday, July 9, 2009

Adventures with a 2-year-old, Day 4 (Stone Barns on little feet)

Today was all about cows. While our older son was at Farm Camp meeting the sheep dog, making ice cream from scratch, planting seeds, picking lavender, and going on a scavenger hunt in the doorway garden of Stone Barns, I took our little one on a hike. A small hike, just enough for two-year-old feet to manage on their own. We passed very loud cows...

We heard a tractor in the distance and rounded bends hoping to catch a glimpse of it in action...

We saw cows out lolling in a shady pasture...

And when we came back to the farm, we got a latte (me, thank you cows for that creamy deliciousness), scone (him) and some citrus-infused granola (us, amazing be sure to pick some up if you visit the Cafe) and picked a nice place to sit and relax. I didn't take it personally that our little one wanted to sit solo in the courtyard. This has been a lot of mom/child together time. I relished the New York Times for 10 uniterrupted minutes and he, well he gave me 10 minutes.

Oh, and did I mention that we also enjoyed cows at lunch time? (Oops, did I just say that?! So crass but so true.) We picked up House Made Bologna and Pickled Veggie sandwiches for our afternoon of exploring. (I normally wouldn't relish a bologna sandwich but it came recommended and oh my, it was good. Of course I came home and made the mistake of looking up just what bologna is exactly...yucky. Now I know why I was never ever given a bologna sandwich growing up.) Anyway, somehow I couldn't bring myself to eat the picnic in the company of cows so we ate in the company of sheep.

Directions for the cow loop (easily walked by a 2-year-old): walking, head left out of the "Hardwood" parking lot, around the backside of the stone barn, along the "do not enter" one-way part of the driveway. When you reach the gate by the cow pen (the guard house will be on your right, slightly downhill) you pick up the wide trail. After visiting the cows head straight out and veer left up the hill. You're basically going to stay left each chance you get. When you see a red barn down the hill in front of you on your right hand side, take a left onto the trail that runs in between Stone Barns and this other red cow barn. Then at your next chance, take a left and Stone Barn's gardens will be on your right hand side and the Stone Barn will be off in the distance (as pictured above). You'll wind downhill from there, coming out again right by the cow pen. This will probably take you about 30-40 minutes if you're walking with a little one.

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