Note: This column was published in the Barrow Journal on May 7, 2014.

You may be familiar with Lazy B Farm because we’re lucky enough to have this beautiful homestead in Barrow County. They have been doing a Sheep to Shawl event every year in Statham that was just this past weekend, and my boys and I were lucky enough to attend a farm field trip at Lazy B last week with some of our homeschool friends.

My boys were jumping with joy with anticipation of this field trip, and it didn’t disappoint them at all. They were able to touch many of the animals, including a turkey, duck, goats, and horses. We also watched her feed pigs and cows.

The farmer, Cyndi Ball, told us that she is a self-taught homesteader. She wanted a different way of life for her six children that she homeschooled, and some of them had allergies that brought to her attention some of the unhealthy practices in which our food and products are made. In 2002, she and her family moved to Georgia, bought land, and started Lazy B Farm. She has taught herself how to raise her own meat, make cheese, become a beekeeper and more.

She says she has made many mistakes along the way, but it’s apparent that she has learned from them because her farm is a beautiful, welcoming place with many healthy animals. Lazy B Farm is a teaching farm, and Cyndi offers homesteading workshops such as “Raising Chickens,” “Junior Beekeeping,” “Wildcrafting Jams and Jellies,” “Making Cheese,” “Soapmaking,” and more.

Cyndi showed the children how a beehive is made, and she let them touch a honeycomb and a block of beeswax that she had made. She let them touch the wool that was sheared off a sheep and showed them the steps it takes to turn it into yarn and a finished hat. She had them stand up one at a time as she explained how many people it takes to get some milk from a cow to the grocery store (twelve), and she compared that to the one person it takes at her farm to bring it from the cow to her kitchen table.

Of course, the animals were the stars of the show. She brought out Fred and Ethel, two of her turkeys. Fred is a commercial turkey that has been bred to be much bigger than natural turkeys, but Cyndi is keeping him and letting him live his life out on the farm. Fred was obviously used to strutting his stuff in front of an audience, and the kids loved him.

The chickens didn’t seem interested in coming out of the coop, and I couldn’t blame them since there were so many children and adults staring back at them. Cyndi is caring for these chickens as part of a research project with the USDA. The USDA wants to find out if chickens raised on a farm like Cyndi’s will have any traces of salmonella after they are butchered – so far, they can’t find a single trace.

The pigs were enormous, and it was nice to see that they have a good home under some cool shade trees and plenty of mud to dig into. Did you know that pigs are actually quite clean animals? They picked a corner in their pen to use as the “bathroom” and will only relieve themselves in that place. The reason they roll in the mud is to keep their skin from burning in the sun. Their skin is similar to ours, and mud acts like sunscreen.

Cyndi keeps her meat cows at friend’s farm where there is more space, but she has a dairy cow at her place that is now nursing a five-week-old calf. She said she has just recently noticed the calf starting to sample the grass and his mama’s food. Up until now he has lived solely off her milk.

My son’s favorite animals were the goats. He said the baby goats were very cute, and he enjoyed petting them. The children even got to take turns milking a goat, and I got to try too! (Clearly I’m not a natural. It’s harder than it looks.)

If you haven’t visited Lazy B Farm, you should. You can make an appointment to buy Cyndi’s products or organize a tour with some of your friends during tour season. Visit the Lazy B Farm website at thelazybfarm.com for more information.