bob evans farm festival

if you are an ohioan, you would know that bob evans is a fairly well known chain around here, serving country-style american fare and comfort-type foods.  now, aaron and i are not big supporters of major chain restaurants, preferring local eateries if we do dine out.  in fact, we don't really go to bob evans much...probably only once or twice a year.  BUT bob evans does hold a special place in our hearts, especially when it used to not be so easily accessible for us.

i was first introduced to bob evans when we were still living in seattle.  any time we would take a trip to ohio, eating at a bob evans was a must, and aaron raved about their biscuits and sausage gravy (it is quite tasty).  of course, now that we can go to one at any time, we actually don't go there very often.  isn't that always the case?

so last week i mentioned that we got invited to check out bob evans' annual farm festival down at the bob evans farm.  not only would it be a fun learning opportunity for the kids, but the possibility of having full access to their biscuits and sausage gravy sealed the deal.
we packed everyone (sans dog) into the car and began the 4-hour-drive-that-turned-into-5 last friday.  i will say that the drive with 3 kids in the car (one being a teenager) can get a little hairy, but we all survived.  on a side note, we made a lunch stop at a wendy's on the way down (it was either that or a mcdonalds...lots of options when you're in the middle of nowhere) and got the "you must not be from around here" look.  especially aaron...the gal at the wendy's counter could not pry her eyes away from his tattoos.  too bad i wasn't able to capture that look.  ha, ha!  we definitely stuck out like a sore thumb!

we spent the last half of friday and the first half of saturday checking out the farm activities.  it was surprisingly hot for this time of year, but i'll take that over cold and rainy any day.  the property is huge, and the event attracted a lot of people.  

we saw mr. hank (who had the most awesome mustache ever) shear a very squirmy sheep.  trying to shear all that fleece in one piece was no easy task.

He has been doing this since the first farm festival 40 years ago.

serious mustache awesomeness.

emma had the opportunity to milk a cow during the cow milking demonstration by laurel valley creamery.  i highly encourage you to take some time to go through their site and watch this video...great information!  i think aaron would have liked to milk the cow too, but he lovingly sacrificed the chance for his daugther (how sweet). 

"pull and twist"

gibson was extremely fascinated with the horses and couldn't get enough of them.  we walked through the rio valley stables (he really liked being picked up and getting close to the horses), and had to stop and watch when the drill team put on their show.

when we arrived saturday morning, we were greeted with some lively music accompanying a bunch of square dancing tractors.  yes.  square dancing tractors, performed by the delaware county tractor square dancers.  it was a sight to see.

we stopped by the soap making station, smelling and touching the lye soap samples and observing some of the tools and ingredients used to make it.

 

mouth-watering?

we were originally supposed to participate in a soap making demonstration, but maybe the demonstrator was on a lunch break?  so instead of making soap, emma got to try her hand at washing clothes the old-fashioned way.  it seemed like a long process just to get clothes clean and it made me VERY thankful for my washer and dryer!

 

crank it

there were plenty of other highlights during our time at the farm festival, but i will let the pictures tell you the rest of our adventure (and for the complete photo experience make sure to go here).

 

an exciting discovery by your 216 coffee snobs: superb coffee by this ohio micro-roaster!

super biscuit cutter at the homestead museum...how do i get one of these?

sausage making contraptions

family covered-wagon ride...an emma favorite.

simple entertainment (and physics).  take THAT nintendo DSi!

mr. beanie boy: "are you one of those bloggers?" me: "umm...yes." 
mr. bb: "i've heard of loggers, but i've never heard of bloggers." ha.

despite the drive, a rather nasty melt down saturday by our drama queen, and the occasional nagging from a certain teenage boy it was quite an enjoyable time.  this was our first real road-trip with the whole family in quite a long time (the last time was the drive from seattle to cleveland when we only had ty).  i think the whole experience will surely make for some wonderful (and amusing) family memories.

**a HUGE thank you to blake at brunner and bob evans for inviting us to the event and for coordinating the food, lodging and activities for the weekend!  we had so much fun!  and you don't have to wait until next year to visit the farm...they're open year round.  take a little road trip, eat some biscuits and sausage gravy and enjoy some time down on the farm.**