Apedaile 6: Gentry's Farm

This past weekend, we went to a family fall event hosted by John's work. We headed to the farm! The farm is located in Franklin, Tn and has a pumpkin patch, corn maze, hay ride, and many different acitvities that made for a fun filled afternoon.

On our way to the farm, we spotted several farms with silos.

Gentry's Farm!

Kids standing in front of the board listing all of the activities.

Where should we start? So many things to do!

We went into the large tobacco barn from the photo above that had a small hay maze inside.

Ladders to climb for the kids.

Of course Mom made JT stop and pose for a photo.

In addition to a few small slides, there was a "mole hole" tunnel to crawl through.

Courtney wanted to be part of the fun as well!

Display of a variety of old farm equipment. Amazing to see how far technology has come!

After we looked at this, we looked at several hens, roosters, turkeys, and homing pigeons. Their cages didn't make for good photos, but JT loved watching the birds peck at their feed. He referred to the turkeys as the ones with "long necks" since they could easily reach the ledge where the feed was.

Tractor play set! JT played on this for a while- he loved the shake-shake bridge and the fast slides that were on both sides of the play set.

Time for some hands on play!

There were several long troughs filled with corn and wheat along with scoops, shovels, funnels, and other toys to play with.

I couldn't resist and had to join in on the fun!

The wheat seeds were very smooth and had a silky feel to them.

We then headed out to the back part of the property for some hiking and small mazes.

The fist stop was the mini maze set up through a soybean field.

Then we went on a short nature trail.

The trail was by the Harpeth River and was very peaceful and cool.

Buried among the trees and brush, is a very old stone wall. Since this area of Tennessee was part of where the Civil War took place, it made me wonder the history of it and just how old the wall is.

After our walk, JT had his first ever tire swing ride!

At first he had just a touch of nervous excitement. I'm sure me saying, "JT be sure to hold on tight." wasn't helping much.

Any nerves quickly left and JT was full of joy!

I loved seeing just how much fun he had by watching his smile and listen to his squeals of delight.

Then it was off to the "hay ride". No hay to be sat upon, but it was fun to be pulled by a large tractor around part of the property.

Isn't this just beautiful? I bet in a few weeks this lane will be filled with beautiful fall colors.

This is the oldest house on the property (the wood cabin portion, that is) It was built in 1806!

Before heading to pick the perfect pumpkin, we tackled the large corn maze!

Map to help you get out alive. We didn't study it, we are crazy like that- ha ha.

The corn stalks were really TALL! Easily 10 feet.

JT was the self declared leader and decided most of our path along the way.

Courtney was victim to some thorny friends on her socks.

Thankfully it was just her socks and not on her skin. We managed to get out of the maze in about 15-20 minutes and then we headed off to the market area of the pumpkins.

There were many different varieties of pumpkins and gourds. We each helped in choosing the perfect group to bring home. Strong boy wanted to help carry the load.

We decided that John was a better fit for that job though.

After we dropped off our pumpkins, we went to the Pumpkin Patch! JT was looking forward to this all day since this was what we passed when we first pulled in to the farm.