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EggsPress September 2019
Hello Flamig Farm Friends,Heading into fall, we invite you to visit and experience the beautiful, seasonal transformation of the Farm, with new colors, new animals and, of course, the most beautiful pumpkins you've ever seen. Our title article this month is about the gorgeous, mysterious and incredibly-designed, eyes of our farm creatures. We are all blessed by our senses, and we think 'the eyes have it!'
With gratitude for our Farm and friends like you, Farmers Julie, Pete, Nevin and Chadam |
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| Look closely and be impressed...
Here's an idea. Come visit us soon and take a close look at our animal residents, especially their eyes. You'll learn some pretty cool design features and perhaps feel especially grateful for how yours too work so perfectly. One of the things we appreciate is the way all creatures are built to be the best they can. Cool, huh?Read more below... |
| | THE HORSE
Because it is a prey animal, the horse has both monocular and binocular vision. (Monocular vision is vision in which each eye is used separately. By using the eyes in this way, as opposed by binocular vision, the field of view is increased, while depth perception is limited.) Its monocular vision is the result of having one eye located on each side of the skull instead of both eyes in the front. This means that the horse has far greater peripheral vision than we do. In fact, the horse has only two blind spots. One is directly in front of it when it is within about four feet of an object, and the other is directly behind it. This blind spot is eight to 10 feet in length and, like the front-end blind spot, is cone-shaped.
While the horse can do nothing to eliminate the blind spots when looking straight ahead, it can quickly turn them into its field of vision by moving its head from one side to the other.
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| | THE GOAT Goats have distinctive, rectangular shapes in their eyes. But why? The answer has to do with survival. A goat's oddly shaped pupils like help it scan the horizon for preditors and to avoid them! |
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THE CHICKENSo, chickens may have the most amazing eyes of all. Here are a few features. Chickens:
- can see 300 degrees around because their eyes are on the sides of their heads, and their heads turn waaaay around, just like owls. That feature and additional structure in the cones of their eyes, help them track movement very precisely. Both are very important for avoiding predators.
- have terrible night vision because they evolved from dinosaurs who essentially never needed to be wary in the dark,
- can see ultra violet light (which we cannot), and
- can use each eye independently on different task simultaneously.
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| Who knew, right? Want to learn more about our amazing animals' eyes? |
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Visit any Saturday in Sept and receive a fun Find and Learn Card and your visiting group of two or more will receive one free Petting Zoo admission.
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| | Speaking of eyes and talk about cute...
Did you hear we have a new baby on the Farm? This alpaca's name is Diego, and he was born in August. What a sweet little guy. Come by for a picture with him before he gets too big. He'd love to pose with you. And impress your friends with this alpaca info: Humming is the most common sound that alpacas make. Alpacas hum when they are curious, content, worried, bored, fearful, distressed or cautious. When startled or in danger, a staccato braying is started by one animal, then followed by the rest of the herd in the direction of the potential threat. During breeding, the male alpaca Romeo emits a unique throaty vocalization called “orgling.”
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| | | Hi Friends,
As you know if you've read some of my prior 'ponderings,' I'm interested in helping to preserve our environment. For big changes to happen, I believe companies will need to take the lead and, for instance, start packaging the items they sell in sustainable packages. But until then, here are three ideas that you can adopt to help. All these items are available from Amazon.
1) Skip plastic storage bags and use waxed paper ones instead.
2) Don't use plastic straws. Use glass ones instead and if you're in a restaurant that offers you one, politely decline it and say why. No one really needs a straw or if you do, carry your own when you go out.
3) Use biodegradable garbage bags in stead of plastic ones.
Below are images of these great products.
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Remember, even recycling qualifying plastic is dicey because the countries like China to which we used to send our plastic garbage are not accepting it any more. When we throw something away, there really is no 'away.'
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| | Can you guess who is in this picture? Have you met Farmer Nevin on your visits to Flamig Farm? Well, this is our beloved farmer when he was thirty five. The funny, family story below is about beards, so we dug up this photo. Enjoy it and the story.
Once upon a time with Grandpa.
I was around seven or eight years old and I don’t remember the exact reason for the hug but I vividly remember the sandpaper like feel of the two or three day old stubble of my grandfather’s face.
Grandpa was gathering eggs in the little red building which was then known as the fourth coop and today houses the cows, Bud the male goat and Pickles our male sheep. I might have been crying a bit because there was some little thing that I was upset about, but I just don’t recall what it was.
Grandpa got down on one knee and reached out his arms to give me a hug. During the hug I think he made sure I got a full measure of his rough beard against the tender 7 year old skin on my right cheek.
He knew I noticed the beard and then proceeded to tell me if I ever wanted to grow a good thick beard that all I needed to do was rub a little bit of chicken manure on my face. Whatever I was upset about quickly turned into wonderment at the thought of that being possibly true. Chicken manure worked well to help the vegetables and the hay grow so why not a beard.
Thank goodness I didn’t follow Grandpa’s advice. The picture below is me at age 35. Who knows what would have happened had I tried the chicken manure trick. I don’t think I would have been able to breathe.
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| | | We love fun and sharing the Farm with you. And since things here are so beautiful right now as enter the fall season, here is one more gift for you.............
Don't look now, but below is a recent picture of Farmer Nevin. Come to the Farm any time in September, mention that you think Famer Nevin looks even better now than in above picture, and your visiting group of two or more will get one free Petting Zoo admission!
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| | | Special invitation to the little ones in your family... |
| | | TODDLERS ON THE FARM Two and three year-olds attend with a caregiver for a morning of farm fun. Each session includes some craft and activity time, a circle with story and songs, a visit with one of our animals and a pony or hayride. Admission to the petting zoo is included so you can enjoy the farm more before or after your session.
Siblings under age 2 are free to attend.
2019 September Classes
• Classes run from 9:30-10:45 am or 10:45-12:00 pm
• Dates for Mondays in September 9, 16, 23 and 30 with Farmer Donna
• Dates for Wednesdays in September 4, 11, 18 and 25 with Farmer Pete
• Dates for Fridays in September 6, 13, 20 and 27 with Farmer Donna
• The cost is $100 for 4 weeks.
2019 October Classes
• Classes run from 9:30-10:45 am or 10:45-12:00 pm
• Dates for Mondays in October 7, 21 and 28 with Farmer Donna (cost is $75 for 3 weeks)
• Dates for Tuesdays in October 8, 15, 22 and 29 with Farmer Donna (cost is $100 for 4 weeks)
• Dates for Wednesdays in October 2, 9, 16 and 23 with Miss Chasity (cost is $100 for 4 weeks)
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| | FUN ON THE FARM
Four and five year olds have a fabulous time exploring the farm more in depth as we focus on a different animal each week. Our time together will include a craft or activity, farm chore, visit with the animals, story and song time and lots of fun! Children may attend without a caregiver,
but caregivers are welcome.
Reserve Now
Classes run from 12:30- 2:00 PM
• Price to attend is $150 (4 Classes)
• Dates for Mondays are September 9, 16, 23 and 30.
• October Monday dates are Oct 7, 21 and 28.
• October Wednesday dates are October 2, 9, 16 and 23 .
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| | | For the latest news and fun at Flamig Farm, please follow us on FaceBook.
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| | | If you have questions or or want tickets to our famous Halloweeen (yes, three Rs) Hayrides before they are all gone, visit www.flamigfarm.com or call 860.658.5070. |
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