Happy Fall Ya’ll

Traditionally, celebrations in autumn are associated with harvests and country life.  Maybe its just how we see it, but it seems like that country life is stereotyped as Southern culture. “Happy Fall Ya’ll!”  is not a phrase we hear in New York, but in the South its on nearly every front door wreath during September and October.    We still embrace our Tennessee roots and instinctively have the need to get away from the city every now and then.  Luckily, just about an hour outside of the hustle and bustle, in any direct you drive, there is farm and country.  Today we took the kiddos to a farm in Long Island called White Post Farms.

 Even at $15 per person, (plus extra for pony rides, train rides, sheep food, bird food, etc) I thought this farm was wonderful and would recommend it to other parents. We spent nearly 3 hours there and our kids had a great time petting animals, bouncing on air bouncers, riding a hay ride, picking out pumpkins and playing in storybook play houses.

While we are thankful that there is somewhere nearby to let our city kids experience animals and “farm life” we can’t help but joke about this faux farm experience. It sorta pains us to pay for our kids to have experiences that back in Tennessee we can enjoy in a much more realistic way.  I’d like to share one of the favorites we like to mock.

Here are my kidos petting goats at the petting farm in New York:

And here are my kidos petting goats on their Grandmother’s farm in Tennessee:

See the difference?  I hope they do too.  It’s important to us to make sure our city kids get back to their roots at least once a year.  Next summer Macy might even go to Tennessee for the entire summer!  And while she is there, there will be plenty of family farms to visit, all kinds of animals to feed without the fences and she can practice saying “Ya’ll” like a true southerner.