Weekend 36

April 17 was Organic Day here in Denmark. It's the day when all of the cows on organic farms are let out of the barns for the first time in about five months. It's almost a holiday. All of the organic farms have the event on the same day, and people go to see the cows dance as they hit the open air.

We arrived a little early. There was a small pen of sheep, including two adult sheep and several small lambs. The staff took one out of the pen so we could get a closer look, which Svea thought was fantastic. She kept saying "hi, sheep!" over and over again.

 There was a sign on the pen; the sheep weren't just there for fun. You could sign up to order your lambs for later meals. We passed on that.

 Inside the barn, all the cows were lined up in neat rows eating lunch. The head of organic farming said that he's pretty sure the cows know what's up when all sorts of people arrive -they know it's the day they get to go outside.

 The kids all had a great time jumping on and off hay bales, and in these massive piles of dried grains.

 Svea's favourite part was just looking at the rows of cows. She was fascinated with them! Kept waving and saying "hi cows!"

 Jeff and the boys walked through to see all the new baby calves. The path through there was too narrow for the stroller, so Svea and I watched the big cows instead.

 This was about an 8-foot drop from the top of the hay to the pile below, though it got to be less and less far the more people jumped, since the hay piled up at the bottom. The boys had so much fun! Several of their friends from school were there too.

 Since it's an organic farm that provides a lot of the organic dairy products in this area, they were giving out milk and yogurt for snacks. Anders doesn't care for yogurt -though he did try it- and it was a bit tart for Torben. Svea and I really enjoyed it, though! Pear-banana is a common flavour of yogurt here, and I really enjoy it.

 Just before noon, the head of organic farming in Denmark spoke -the farm we were at was the one being promoted this year!- and talked about the importance of organic farms, and then they gave new boots to two farmers who are converting to organic farming in this area. At noon, they led the cows out. My pictures don't do the scene justice -I needed a much faster shutter speed! But it was fascinating!

The night before we went, Anders was in a bad mood about, well, just about everything, and I was trying to convince him how fun it would be to see the cows dance. He wasn't buying it. He said there was no way they could dance on two feet. I informed him that I was pretty sure they did the waltz, and then I hummed the Blue Danube and practiced a waltz in their room. He didn't believe that's what the cows would do, but he laughed in spite of himself and turned his bad mood around!

They didn't quite do the waltz. But they do hop and skip and run. I've never seen cows so happy!

 Even if they were just walking out to the grass, there was a lilt in their steps.

 Here, this one is just about to do a little hop. And the one just coming into the right side of the frame is thinking about it, too.

 They also got very excited about playing with the bales of hay in the middle of the field. Scratching their faces, or burying their faces in the sweet hay.

 A few decided that it was time for some head-butts. These two actually got their feet tangled in the microphone cord -the hay bales in the field were what the owners were sitting on to do the presentations- so that was interesting.

 Here's this one just starting to run. It's quite like skipping, really, when they run across the field.

 And this one decided to sing.

It was a really fun morning! Svea loved seeing all the cows, and the boys had fun watching them running around too.

The weather looked like it wasn't going to cooperate for this, and we'd heard stories about past years where the cows didn't really dance because of the rain and cold. so we were hopeful that the bad weather would hold off. It was beautiful! The sun was shining, and though it was a bit windy, it wasn't too cold to be outside. We got home and had some lunch, and then all the clothes went straight into the washing machine! There was so much dust from the kids jumping in the hay and grains!

Anders lost his third tooth this weekend. He was so proud! We thought for about three days that it was going to come out any minute, but it hung on for a long time. He still hasn't put it under his pillow, though. It's interesting to me that they aren't all that excited about doing that. Torben hung on to his for months before putting them under his pillow. And at home, Anders never did put his first two out for the tooth fairy. He wanted to save them until Grandma could see them, and then we couldn't find the baggie before we left to come here. So, he's hoping we will find them when we get home.

 After dinner and showers, it was fun to sit and relax on the couch with the kids. I love how much they like to sit together under a blanket and enjoy each other's company. I hope they all continue to be good friends as they grow up.