Uncategorized October 20, 2004
We had a lovely day on Sunday. There was a Farm Day out near Mangere Bridge, which was all free. They expected 20,000 people and almost all the events were free. We saw sheep being sheared, cows being milked, lambs, donkeys, chickens, kunekune and other farm animals. Evan loved petting the lambs (who seemed to not mind being pet) but was most interested in these old engines. Some club had these old engines on display, which would pump water, or move wheels or other things. Evan loved the movements and the sounds and the smoke. There was also a very old steam-engine which Evan was really interested in. It looked very old – maybe from the turn of the century or so.
We also learned how to make butter. We put some cream into a plastic jar, added a marble, and shook vigorously for some time. After about 10 minutes of shaking, the butter was made and the whey could be drained off. Apparently the whey is given to the pigs, who love it. We were able to eat the butter, which was very yummy.
Evan was very interested in the sheep shearing. He was mesmerized by the sheep running about, looking very naked after the shearing, and the noise of the shearers.
There was cow lotto, where the grass was marked with numbers and whenever a cow did a poo, whatever that number was would be called out. Seems the cows were rather constipated, or were too nervous to let them go, since I never saw one lotto number. Only in New Zealand.
We bought Evan some candy-floss, but he didn’t like it. Strange, since he likes most things sweet. The more for us then!
Evan slept very well that afternoon – in fact we couldn’t even wake him after 3 hours! We also discovered that he shares a phobia with Nicole – dressed up people. There were people dressed up as giraffes or something resembling a cavity and Evan wouldn’t even look at them. He cried when I suggested we go over and see it. Nicole doesn’t like that sort either.