This fall, we visited Peinhardt Living History Farm in Cullman, Alabama.
Here is a brief history of the farm, taken from peinhardtfarm.org:
The Peinhardt Living History Farm is the result of the Peinhardt family's immigration from Germany to Cullman in the late 1870's. Karl Peinhardt settled in the community of Bethsada and his son Otto Peinhardt began the farm on the present site in about 1900. Carl Peinhardt, Otto's son attended Auburn University (Alabama Polytechnical Institute) from 1930 to 1932. He then began his own diversified farming operation with row crops, hogs and dairy cattle. He was a skilled carpenter and built his own buildings as well as doings some building work for the public. He developed a registered Guernsey dairy and was a leader in soil conservation as well as the dairy industry in Alabama. At his death in 1992, Carl's four surviving children began the preservation and development of the farm as an educational living history farm.
We learned how every animal on the farm had a job, including their dog. We saw sheep, calves, chickens, bunnies, and pigs and learned what we get from each of those animals.
We saw eggs in an incubator and got to hold baby chicks. Everyone wanted to bring one home. :)
We learned about milking dairy cows and all the things we can make from the cows' milk.
In the kitchen, we saw a wood burning stove and ate homemade biscuits with preserved apple butter just like the Peinhardt children would have snacked on when they got home from school before they started their chores. We learned about preserving and canning food. We also saw different feed sacks that their clothes would have been made from. I find it so interesting that the flour and sugar companies would pattern their sacks so people would want to use them for dresses and such. Even way back then, packaging was so important in the business industry!
Here Jeremy and Freddy volunteered to show us how the cows would be yoked to pull the plow or wagon. Below you can see JaMicheal being lassoed. They wouldn't let me bring the lasso back to school. :(
The class loved riding on the wagons...
and saddling up for a horse ride!
At the woods station we learned about resources we get from lumber and how to prepare logs for building and roofing a cabin. The students each got to try out different tools.
Below: Keyon, Jamaunté, TaCorey, and Braxton are Synergizing to use a two-man crosscut saw.
At the field station, we talked about crops that were grown on the farm and what could be made from them. We even saw a few things that we grew in our school garden!
We each got a sack and got to bring home sugar cane, a sweet potato, German okra, corn, and cotton. Jariah is showing off her German okra, which is much bigger than the okra we are familiar with.
Devin's sweet potato is almost as big as he is!
Dekilia, Jariah, Makayla, and Ashley are all smiles as we head back to board the bus. We all had a fabulous day and learned so much!
Thank you to Peinhardt Living History Farm for a great day!
We put all of our seed starters by the window so they could get plenty of light while we are gone for Spring Break. Hopefully, we can share seeds and knowledge about how easy it is to grow healthy food in small spaces. 
