{"id":4223,"date":"2013-10-27T05:21:09","date_gmt":"2013-10-27T05:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.johnpedroza.com\/blog\/?p=4223"},"modified":"2013-10-27T05:21:09","modified_gmt":"2013-10-27T05:21:09","slug":"16-learning-how-to-milk-a-cow-at-amys-farm-in-ontario-ca","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.johnpedroza.com\/blog\/16-learning-how-to-milk-a-cow-at-amys-farm-in-ontario-ca\/","title":{"rendered":"#16 Learning How to Milk a Cow at Amy’s Farm in Ontario, CA"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"milkjohncow\"<\/a>I am not sure it if it sounds weird or not but I really like milk. I know a lot of people in the world are allergic to milk. That is very unfortunate when you think of all the yummy things that can be derived from milk.<\/p>\n

When I first moved to the Inland Empire my mother was working as a nurse at the Heman G. Stark Youth Prison . It was in the middle of nowhere Chino. As far as prisons went it was ok, but I distinctly remember passing all the cow pastures to get there. Whenever I passed by those cows I remember it being stinky, but it made me think of happy to think of all that milk being produced.<\/p>\n

That was several years ago and things have changed a lot in Chino. The early 21 st century has experienced an over 40% decrease in dairy farms in Chino <\/a>this is due to numerous reasons but the main reason is simply urban sprawl. Houses go up, cows go away, and all that is left for me is a memory of driving through endless roads of dairy farms.<\/p>\n

I had always wondered what it would be like to be on a dairy farm. I like animals and most every cow I have ever met is usually pretty happy (or at the least part agreeable). For some reason I have always wanted to learn how to milk a cow, but as the dairy farms in the area have decreased I have found this harder to do. Another thing I have learned is that not many places actually milk their cows by hand. Commercial dairys have big machines that attach to the cow and do the job quickly and efficiently.<\/p>\n

Quickly and efficiently is good for the public in that it usually equates to safe drinkable milk. For me however it is horrible because I don’t get to learn anything. Luckily for me I stumbled onto Amy’s Farm<\/a> in Ontario, California.<\/p>\n

\"milkgarden\"<\/a>Amy’s Farm describes itself as a poly cultural farm that provides hands-on learning to students of all ages. I first learned about this place when my son (who is five) told me that his class was trying to raise funds for a field trip to this place. As soon as I found out that the tour included a lesson on milking I knew I wanted to visit this place.<\/p>\n

Going to the website I read that you needed a group of 10 or more, but that sometimes if they had extra room they would add you to an existing group. Since it is only the 3 of us I was kind of worried, but I filled out the online contact form and to my surprise the next day I got a personal phone call saying that if I showed up at 12 PM I could be included in a tour.<\/p>\n

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I think the goat was trying to whisper to AJ to help him spring him out of there.<\/p><\/div>\n

The tour cost $8 ($10 for AJ but he got a pumpkin) and was about an hour and a half long. The lady (Farmer Carrie) giving the tour was very energetic. Which was good because AJ was really excited to be there. The tour included a visit to the organic garden, animal feeding, learning about different horses, and best of all cow milking.<\/p>\n

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Turns out milking a cow was really easy. I made a video (see below):
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