Field Trips

Our school year has gotten off to a great start with some fun field trips... 

In January, we toured Mrs. Hanes' Moravian Cookie Factory in Clemmons to see how their yummy treats are made. 

These cookies have been popular for many years and are shipped to 39 different countries.  Their popularity soared recently when they made a certain person's Favorite Things List. They make six different flavors- sugar, chocolate, lemon, black walnut, ginger, and butterscotch.

They are one of the only companies that rolls out and cuts all their cookies by hand! They make 10 million cookies every year!!! You'll notice each rolling table has two regular -size cutters and one very small shape.  Each person must "sign" their tray with their signature miniature cookie in the corner for quality control.

When the racks are filled they slide into the oven to bake for 10 minutes.  Each of the racks spins as it cooks.

Then they head out to be packaged into tubes, tins or bags.  The mini cookie "signatures" are sold in the bags.

Then we headed into the mixing room.  The Hanes' family began mixing cookie dough by hand, then an over-sized mixer, and today they use a custom-designed version.  They can make 10,000lbs of cookie dough in one day!!

Then we watched one of the expert packers.  They stack and load all the tins by hand, wrapping each stack individually before placing it in the tin.  Here they are working on the special chocolate heart cookies for Valentine's Day...

They have kept Mrs Hanes' original wood stove in the bakery.  This is where the business began in their small family kitchen.  It was a simple endeavor to supplement the family's dairy farm income during the holidays. 

One of the best parts of the tours was the tasting.  At every stop along the way, we sampled one of the different flavors.  It's almost impossible to pick a favorite! We will definitely be enjoying these little treasures again.

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We also had the privilege of seeing the Mermaid Theater of Nova Scotia again. This time is a was a puppet show of the works of Eric Carle.  They performed Little Cloud, The Mixed Up Chameleon, and The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  They were performed by two extremely gifted puppeteers, in a multi-layered moving set, using very agile puppets and blacklights to make the colors pop as the stories came to life right before our eyes.  (We saw this company once before at the Kennedy Center performing Goodnight Moon and Runaway Bunny.)  It is an incredible experience! If they are ever in your area, be sure to attend. It will captivate young and old alike.  Seriously, click their link above and check to see when they are coming your way.

Here is a shot of one of the puppets after the show...

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We also returned to our local post office again this year.  It is one of the our favorite trips.

The kids follow the mail from the loading dock, to the sorting bins, to the mailroom, to the sorting stations,

into PO boxes, to the front desk, and out into the mail carriers' trucks for that day's delivery...

Everyone there is so personable and happily talks with the kids. It is also fun to be able to find the sorting boxes for some of our own houses.

That night we read one of my favorite children's books...

It is the true story of a family in Idaho in 1914.  They wanted to send their daughter to visit her Grandma on the other side of the mountains, but could not afford the train ticket.  So they decided to "mail" her.  Little May waas under the 50lb weight limit, so they put some stamps on her coat and sent her into the postal car (with her uncle, a postal worker) to mail her to Grandma as a surprise.  The pictures are wonderful and do a great job of showing the workings of the postal service at the turn of the century.

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Our most recent trip today took us just around the corner to Old Salem.  A historically preserved town from the 18th century.  They offer special classes for homeschoolers.  Today Carter and Lily joined some of their friends for a Hearth Cooking of the 18th Century class. We had absolutely beautiful weather.  I apologize to the rest of the country who are literally frozen solid.  I have no idea why we have clear sunny skies and 65 degree temps- not that we're complaining.  But is does seem quite unfair.

They were so excited to be stepping back in time and going to class by themselves :)

Here they are drawing water from the pump...

We didn't get to attend with them, but they had a wonderful time.  They made apple fritters from scratch and then strung their own apple slices to dry for later.  They had a chance to use a variety of tools and kitchen utensils from that time period.  They told me afterward they thought cooking 200 years ago was much easier than today.  I think they may be confusing fun with easy.  Our eager cooks returning from class...

Next time they want to try their hand at loom weaving.