Down Here On The Farm!

Today we ventured over to the Bob Evans Farm in Bidwell, Ohio. We had planned on going to Columbus to COSI, but finances do not permit it at the moment. That's okay, we skipped about three hours each way of Labor Day traffic, and Bob Evans Farm is only twenty minutes away, and free!

Bob Evans, founder of the company, lived on the Bob Evans
Farm in southeastern Ohio for nearly 20 years. He and his wife, Jewell, raised
their six children in the large brick farmhouse known as the Homestead. The
Homestead, now on the National Register of Historic Places, was once a
stagecoach stop and an inn, so the spirit of hospitality is deeply embedded in
our company's history. Today, the Homestead serves as a company museum and
historical center.

* I would just like to note something here regarding "hospitality," as mentioned in that quote. The only other time I went to this farm was on a field trip in third grade (yeah, a long time ago) and after the class returned we received a letter from Bob Evans Farm telling the teacher who arranged the trip that we were not welcome back because we did not tip well when we ate at the restaurant! Um, we were third graders from impoverished southern Ohio. What did you expect? But today everyone was very nice, although we did not eat there. (Because I'm old enough to know better.)

We set out hoping to see some animals, maybe baby goats, pigs, something. I don't know where the animals were on this farm. We saw a couple rabbits and chickens and a duck in little cages, a calf lying down in the shade trying to keep flies off it. Depressing. See:

The Homestead looked as though it had been a very nice old house. It was huge. I guess I didn't expect it to be so touristy. It had the whole "push this button to hear the story of..." thing going, as well as some creepy mannequins in various settings. Violet waved and said "hi" to them when we first went in, then looked confused as to why they wouldn't respond or move. It was cute and sad at the same time.

(I told you they were creepy!)

The coolest part was the old handmade quilts upstairs in the Homestead. I'll post those tomorrow since this has a million pictures already and Blogger is running slow right now. Hope you enjoyed your virtual tour so far. It saves you the trip, and the smells!