It`s hard to imagine an American child who doesn`t know how to sing ”Old MacDonald Had a Farm.” They all know how to moo like a cow and oink like a pig, although chances are they have never met a barnyard animal. At the Lincoln Park Zoo Country Fair in the City, children will have a chance to see the real thing and then sit on bales of hay and listen to folk singer and storyteller Michael Offutt, who will focus on songs and tales that have sprung from the agrarian heritage of the Midwest.
The best way to get children`s attention, says Offutt, is to start off with a song where children can sing along. It might be ”Old MacDonald Had a Farm” or the one about a farmer who had a dog named Bingo or ”Comin` `round the Mountain.” He might also have them join in on a story about a johnnycake that runs away, repeating after him ”I`ve outrun an old woman and a little boy, and two ditch-diggers, two well-diggers and a brown bear and I can outrun you, too” and on and on as the story progresses.
”It`s a memory story, and we keep adding on people and animals,” says Offutt. If the story of this renegade johnnycake sounds like the more familiar tale about a gingerbread man, Offutt continues to explain: ”As pioneers crossed the country from east to west, their stories went through the folk process and were framed by the environment they were in.”
Offutt may also tell a story that always makes children giggle. It`s about a little boy who has a secret way of catching lots of fish and it requires Offutt to pretend he has a mouth full of worms. ”Children like being very, very silly,” he says. ”You`re not being a clown, though. But taking the language and twisting it in a lovely way, that`s a lot more educational than throwing a pie in someone`s face.”
Offutt usually ends his show by playing the spoons. He does the basic up- and-down movement, hitting the spoons on his leg, but can also do some fancy tricks, such as making a drumroll by spreading his fingers and running the spoons over them.
He always carries a couple of extra pairs of spoons so children can try to play them and he brings along some homemade instruments-such as a washboard, buckets turned into tambourines and a bass fiddle made out of a washtub, some string and a pole-for children to join in on a raucous grand finale.
This should have them revved up enough to compete in the Kiddie Tractor Pull. They can try riding a miniature tractor that is specially rigged with weights so that it gets harder and harder to pedal until it`s impossible to move another inch.
Children will also get a chance to plant their own garden by putting some soil in a plastic bag, sprinkling in some lettuce seeds and patting them down and watering them and then closing the bag to create a mini-terrarium. They can also cut out masks to look like a cow, a pig or a sheep and then go and check out the real ones.
They can watch the sheep being sheared and then, in a program called
”Sheep to Shop,” they can watch members of the Illinois Weavers Association spin the wool into yarn and members of the Illinois Quilters Guild show how wool fabric is turned into colorful coverlets.
In the barns, children can see the farm animals, which are more than just relics in a museum to be looked at but not touched. Even timid children will have no trouble with the baby chicks, piglets and little lambs.
”These are not exotic animals like the iguana or armadillo that you find in the other part of the zoo,” says fair coordinator Terry Van Buren. ”The comfort level at the farm is great for children because the animals are very familiar.”
Children can try grooming a horse and they can feed the cows and watch machines milk them and see how the milk is turned into butter. They can pet a goat and sample some goat`s milk and see the chickens that lay eggs and learn which ones hatch and which ones get scrambled.
”It`s important for children to see that farm products, not just the livestock but all the produce as well, hasn`t been created in isolation at Dominick`s or Jewel or Cub Foods,” says Van Buren.
Just as the main zoo focuses more and more on sending an ecological message about the importance of preserving wildlife, the Farm-in-the-Zoo echos that sentiment, since the American farm is becoming an endangered species.
”It`s important for us to know what we get from nature that`s important for our own survival,” says Van Buren. ”Once children and adults understand the value of nature, they`ll be more sensitive to taking care of it.”
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Country Fair in the City `92, Lincoln Park`s Farm-in-the Zoo, 2200 N. Cannon Drive; 312-294-4674, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. The fair includes storytelling, juggling, square dancing, music by the Crosstown Bluegrass Band, and a ”Taste of the Farm” cooking demonstration by the event`s sponsor, the National Livestock and Meat Board, as well as a variety of farm programs; free.fr
Getting in touch with our heritage
Here are several other locations in the Chicago area where you will find farm animals and activities:
Blackberry Historical Farm-Village, intersection of Barnes and Galena Roads, off Interstate Highway 88 at Orchard Road exit, Aurora, 708-892-1550, 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. daily through Labor Day. This old-fashioned farm has a petting zoo with sheep, goats and other farm animals. Demonstrations daily in the various village shops include weaving, pottery and the work of a blacksmith. Rides on ponies, a miniature train, a carousel and an old-fashioned wagon are included with price of admission. $6 adults, $4 seniors, $4.75 children 2-11, under 2 free, season passes available.
Brookfield Zoo`s Children`s Petting Zoo, 1st Avenue and 31st Street, Brookfield, 708-485-0263, ext. 450, 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. daily. The Children`s Petting Zoo has a variety of domestic animals including sheep, pigs, goats and a variety of horses including a 34-inch-high miniature horse and 2,000-pound Clydesdales. The cows or goats are milked daily at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. and there is a wool spinning demonstration throughout the day on Tuesdays. The daily Animals in Action show including horses, birds and dogs features horses at 2 p.m. on Mondays and 3 p.m. Wednesdays and Sundays. $1 adults, 50 cents children 3-11 and seniors, under 3 free in addition to zoo admission, $3.50 adults, $1.50 seniors and children 3-11, children under 3 free (parking $4).
The Children`s Farm at The Center, 12700 Southwest Hwy., Palos Park, 708-361-3650, 1-4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Weekend family tours allow children to touch the farm animals, which include horses, goats and hogs, chickens, ducks and geese. They can learn how animals serve people and learn about farm crops. Pony and hayrack rides are available by advance arrangement and each month features a special demonstration or activity; $2, under age 1 free.
Garfield Farm Museum, La Fox (5 miles west of Geneva off Illinois Highway 38 on Garfield Road), 708-584-8485, 1-4 p.m. Wednesdays and Sundays through September or by advance appointment. The farm has historic breeds of poultry from the 1840s, including birds that are gray-and-white flecked, ones that are bronze and gold as well black ones with white crests. There are also Merino sheep and Milking Devon oxen, a breed used to pull wagons and plows. A garden includes plantings of old varieties of vegetables, and another plot has prairie plants representing those found on the farm. Buildings include a house, hay and grain barn, a horse barn and a chicken house. $3 adults, $1 children 6-12, under 6 free.
Lambs Farms, Illinois Highway 176 (just off Interstate Highway 94 exit), Libertyville, 708-362-4636, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. daily. This was once a working dairy farm and some of the original buildings still stand. The Farmyard and Petting Zoo has goats, sheep, pigs and llamas as well as pony rides. The Small Animal Nursery has numerous mammals. A large pet shop is in the turn-of-the-century barn, a miniature golf course has a barnyard motif and a miniature passenger train tours the grounds. Lambs residents, adults with mild and moderate mental impairments, create silk-screened greeting cards and clothing, candies, cookies, preserves and sauces that are sold at the farm; free admission and parking but there is a nominal fee for some of the activities.
