Wing Fai & Wendy: Veldheer's Tulip Farm @ Holland, Michigan

We went to Veldheer's Tulip Farm, a short drive away from downtown Holland... It is a really huge tulip farm with many different types of tulips!! Each bed of tulips had a number tag to them and we had a list matching the number to the species of tulips... We could indicate on the list which tulips we would like to buy. The list enabled us to know what tulips we were looking at too... =p

Photos taken with the windmill near the entrance to the farm...

There are really lots of tulips here and it is amazing there are so many different types of tulips in various colours! There are even tulips that are a cross with other flowers... Here's some of the tulips we saw...

Us happily taking photos with the tulips... There were all so pretty!!

Us taking photo with another windmill...

Not sure what is this... =p

Us trying to be the person making the Dutch wooden shoes... =p

And also trying to be Dutch boy and girl... =p

Me with the rows and rows of tulips... The tulips are a real pretty sight! =)

More photos of tulips... We took tons of photos of tulips... =p

There are also some American Bison, also commonly known as American Buffalo, at a corner of the farm...

Then we went to De Klomp Wooden Shoe and Delft Factory, located outside the farm... Together with the factories is a souvenier shop selling various Dutch crafts including wooden shoes and delftware...

Some info on wooden shoes: Wooden shoes are made from a block of poplar wood and wearing of wooden shoes is an old Dutch tradition. Because of the high cost of leather and Holland's wet climate which causes leather to rot quickly, wooden shoes developed as the ideal footwear being relatively inexpensive and long-lasting. Wooden shoes despite their inflexibility are comfortable and warm when worn with thick socks. The shoes are cool in the summer and warm in the winter because of natural ventilation of wood and good insulation.

Man demonstrating how a wooden shoe is made from a block of poplar wood... They used machines to cut and shape a block of poplar wood based on an existing pattern/mold. Then the wood had be to dried before they added finishing to it...

Demonstrating how a block of poplar wood is craved and shaped based on a pattern/mold...

Demonstrating how a hole for wearing the shoe is cut into a craved block of poplar wood...

Wooden golf shoes and mini wooden shoes...

Us trying on the wooden shoes... The person advised us to choose a larger size instead of a smaller one as we could compensate that by wearing extra socks... You really need thick socks for it to be comfortable... =p

Lots of wooden shoes arranged by sizes... The right pic shows traditional wedding/anniversary wooden shoes with design hand carved in the Netherlands...

Delftware are blue and white Dutch pottery... Left pic shows painted tiles which were really pretty!! Right pic shows a basket of "wooden" shoes in the form of delftware...