Workin' the soil Colonial style

While Maryland may not be the biggest state in the union geographically (since you can cross the entire state in the amount of time it would take you to drive from Missoula to Bozeman back home) there are still a few places around here we haven’t been to yet. So a couple of weeks ago we went just a couple of miles down the road to the National Colonial Farm. At the visitors center we met a box turtle whose name I forget, and a little old lady who was overjoyed to have visitors (I’m guessing they don’t get the kind of traffic that other sites in DC get). She told us that the site was originally planned to be a sewage plant, but its position directly across the river from Mount Vernon caused the ladies who operate that more often visited site to not want the view from George’s back porch to be a human waste facility, along with the smell that would probably waft across the river. So they turned the area into an operational colonial farm where they could grow farm things like pigs and vegetables the way the colonial people did. They had baby sheep, goats, geese, lots of plants, tobacco, killer Uncle-eating chickens, and all sorts of other things colonial people would need. Unfortunately, most of the people who work on the farm still die in their twenties from malaria and dysentery… so we didn’t stay too long. But we did get these pictures!

Paul stopped for a moment to get a picture taken, something he rarely does... because it's very painful for him anymore.

And Becky actually got one of them together where they're both looking, and both giving genuine smiles... another rarity.

Adam was not too sure about the pigs, but to be honest, they were pretty massive, hairy, weird looking creatures. And we steered clear of the farm chickens...

But it was another beautiful breezy and cool day around here. Thankfully, the humidity hasn't jumped up yet and the days have still been great to venture out to places like these. I'm sure as June approaches that will change, but for now we're loving life and the weather in springtime Maryland.