farm Archives | Treinen Farm

2015 Maze, Farm Kid for the Day, playground, Playgrounds

Be a Farm Kid for a Day: Climbing Trees

Treinen children in the woods

One of the best parts about raising kids on a farm is the sheer number of things for them to do. Just walking outside with little ones and letting them climb around on hay bales or sit on a tractor is endlessly fascinating. And with acres of woods, the Treinen children developed into obsessive rock and tree-climbers. I was never sure if I was a bad mother or a good mother as I watched them climb much higher than I ever could have–being only four or five feet above the ground makes me freeze in terror.

We like to think of the Treinen Farm Play Areas as a way for us to invite guests to “Be a Farm Kid for a Day.” To climb on hay bales and tractor tires. To scramble up a fence and pet the horses. To play in the corn and dig in the sand.

But the tree-climbing piece has always eluded us, because although it’s perfectly permissible to let

Treinen kid in a tree

your own expert tree-climbing children ascend to the highest branches, it’s a little less comfortable to invite your farm guests to do the same. But, tree-climbing is so fun…we figured there had to be a way.

We began to take field trips into the woods scouting our land and the neighbors for likely climbing trees. We’ve got 70 acres of woods, so there’s always a number of dead trees or large fallen branches, and we started collecting interesting trees, mostly oaks, to turn into our new tree climbing playground.

We decided that laying them down and letting their branches stick up (and putting down lots of mulch) could make a great climbing place. With the help of a loader tractor and chainsaws, the new Natural Play Area at the Treinen Farm began to shape up.

Before we got everything into its final location, we thought we’d test the playground on the Treinen children and relatives… here are some preliminary photos from our new play area. I’ll post more, but here are the kids trying it out. Initial findings are that the new play area is seriously fun.

Under construction

All ages of cousins playing

Big logs

Climbing a log tree

Real Treinen Farm trees (plus one from the neighbor)

Little one on a big log

September 30, 2015/by Treinen Farm

2015 Maze

Getting ready for fall

The Treinen household is always a little crazy at this time of the year. Like any family with kids, there’s the back-to-school conversations (what do you need for school supplies, what teachers do you have, do you really need new soccer cleats and when will you stop growing…) and the end-of-summer conversations (can we fit in one more visit to Grandma and Grandpa, when are you going to start going to bed at a reasonable hour…)

Here at the farm, we also have the many, many conversations about how preparations for fall are coming (which employees are coming back, do we have corn for the corn pit, what prizes will we have for the secret locations…)

This is how this usually goes: “No, the dirt should go over there!”

But the thing we all look forward to every year is the Big Question: What are we going to add for 2015 that will be fun? Fun for kids, fun for adults. We go to conventions to look for ideas (yes, there is such a thing as a Corn Maze Convention!); we talk to other people with agritainment farms; we go to amusement parks and zoos and museums and pay attention to what works and what doesn’t.

No spoilers yet–we’re in the process of creating an amazing fall 2015 experience. I’ll post more photos as the project moves along–stay tuned.

There are packages of fun arriving every day

Naughty dog stealing fun from the packages

August 23, 2015/by Treinen Farm

Horses

Today’s Moment of Cuteness–newborn foal at the Treinen Farm

Farmer Alan poses with new baby (she’s about 30 minutes old in this photo)

It’s time to start thinking about our corn maze and all the fall activities, but the first thing we have to share is the news about a new Treinen baby: Mabel’s foal, born 5/17/14 at about 3 am. She’s doing well and is getting so much attention that she runs over whenever anyone walks in the barn!