Post Punk Kitchen Forum

Hi all!

This is my first post here. I'm sooooo glad I found this place! Woohoo! (and yeah, I live with my head in a recycled paper bag)... anyhoooo.

I have a 3yo and a 4mo. They are pretty sheltered - I stay home with them - but I'm wanting to get them out & about more this spring. I really want them to see animals (& plants!) in their natural routines/habitats (and I'm not talking the Zoo). Ie, dogs, cats, chickens, cows, pigs; vegetable gardens tended by ordinary, honest, hard-working people. I am an idealist - I hate HATE pseudo-environments, as in, let's-play-farm-and-charge-admission kind of thing. I dunno, maybe what I'm wishing for doesn't exist anymore. I hope I'm not stirring a sensitive pot; I'm vegan & my hubby & toddler are vegetarian (and the LO nurses exclusively :) ) ... but a major grief we have is with the whole CAFO/factory farm thing. We want to inspire an interest in our girls from an early age; teach them about the rights of all creatures (is this a pipe dream?!), while providing them with the opportunity to see for themselves and make their own choices in life... who knows where we'll be 5, 10 years from now, but we hope to slowly introduce them to what's going on around them; the mass destruction of our land, nature, planet. Sigh.

Obviously, with their ages, we start small. Show them how there is a natural rhythm to all things (we definitely strive very hard to keep the "family rhythm" and flow as ergonomic as possible!) Later they'll learn - hopefully not the hard way - how much this rhythm is off in the world today. Anyhow, I digress.

We live in suburbia, where our landlord will not allow pets. I guess I just really really wish my girls had some kind of opportunity to see men work; become accustomed to the weather, the feel of a field of open grass (which is a fond memory of mine)... I know, IDEALLY, we'd have our own veg garden, and dogs & cats; heck I would LOVE a pet pig, a horse... ah, daydreams...

Anyhow. I have a point, and that is: while we're "stuck" where we are, what kinds of opportunities/activities do you think I could do with them? Does anybody have any ideas?

Where do you live?

Hiking? We have a lot of hiking areas near us. One of the state parks near us has a bird sanctuary and another one puts on events during the year like butterfly events when the Monarchs are migrating. I think most of our state parks also do some type of nature events for various age ranges. Like we live near a lake that has pontoon boat rides where they show you various animals and even a beaver dam. You can also rent boats/kayaks at the lake which is what we usually do. I will say we live in definite suburbia :)

How about a visit to a farm sanctuary? I know the one in NY has B&B style rentals but there are many throughout the US.

Another option is to visit "The Farm" http://www.thefarm.org/

Oh! NE Kansas. :)

Not sure if this helps, but this is wildlife viewing sites in Northeast Kansas:
http://www.naturalkansas.org/neks.htm

It seems like it would be fun if you keep in mind a toddler's short attention span and point out the different animals and what they're doing. I wish I could be more help but although my best friends lives in Kansas, he's not much of an outdoor type.

Just get outside! When I was little my mom was always taking me for walks, and we would look at all the plants and animals. We lived in a city but there were still birds and squirrels and bugs and rats... We would watch them and talk about what they were doing and how they had families just like we did. If we saw a hole in the ground or a hollow in a tree we would discuss what might live there. We had the Reader's Digest North American Wildlife book, and if we saw an animal or plant we didn't know, we would look it up when we got back and learn a little about it. We'd pick up pretty leaves and take them home and my mom would iron them between two sheets of wax paper, or I would take crayons and paper and make a rubbing. Sometimes we would go to parks or places to hike. I always loved going out in nature and I think it's because my mom really nurtured that in me.

Thanks for this. :) We did the wax-paper leaves too, growing up! My sister babied a rock collection in her bottom drawer, too, as I recall.