Up on the Housetop,Click Click Click

Farm life with its posts about the cost of pastured beef, the trials of farrowing pigs out of doors, the raw milk advertising bru hah ha can be a bit heavy at times. Wouldn't you agree? I thought you would.

So today's post is brought to you by the Reindeer of Central Illinois. Raised near Rantoul, and originally shipped in from Alaska, the creatures with the big racks are amazing to see, touch and feed. Especially if you are age 5 and 8.

GK Allana in blue.

The Hardy Reindeer ranch charges just $4 to see their amazing animals up close and so personal I found myself screaming out over and over, "Be Careful, You'll Poke Your Eye Out !" Reindeer have no sense of personal space it seems.

GK Wesley. Watching his fingers closely

The 5 year old boy lasted about 3 minutes, he has his Yaya's attention span (oh look, hot chocolate in the cafe) and convinced his Papa to take him back to the hay bale area where a boy can jump as God intended.

The 8 year old female and I stayed extra long as she felt drawn to a tiny reindeer named "Jewel" who was not getting her share of the raw oats we'd been given to entice the deer to stretch over their boundaries.

As a future zookeeper she was compelled to reach out to the runt of the herd. I'll admit, Jewel was indeed charming but even so I could not fathom paying the $125 asking price for the antlers which graced the farms gift shop. Especially since Keith had eyed a very large pile of the dead protein branches out behind one of the buildings.

Yeah, hay bales. Too bad we don't have any of THOSE around our place.

I am all about farmers getting a fair price for their products but the antlers were over the top, well once they were, now they were just scattered all over the ground.  In Ebay land the going is much cheaper , I think I'll buy a few for next years Christmas  decorating. Even so, it was a grand day. Nothing more relaxing than  getting away from your busy farm and going to visit someone else's busy farm.