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Green Meadows Petting Farm is a fun interactive place to take the family. It is described as a farm animal learning center company. I had taken Clara once last summer before baby Mae was born but we had never been to the barnyard bash before. Last Sunday was an absolutely gorgeous day to make a trip to the farm for the their third annual barnyard bash event.

Green Meadows was founded by Bob and Coni Keyes in Waterford, Wisconsin in 1964 as a petting farm. Members of the Keyes Family have opened eight additional Green Meadows Farms in New York, Wisconsin, Texas, Maryland, New Jersey Connecticut, Florida, and Illinois. Every year over 500,000 guests pass through the gates of Green Meadows Farms. The farm in Ijamsville currently operates as “home base” to the family’s many business ventures.

After parking in the field and buying tickets at the entrance, we first headed down the hill to check out the animal barn.

In this barn there were baby ducks and chicks who were just a few days old. The girls loved petting them and watching them move around in the bin. There were also rabbits, a llama, cow, pigs, and a 10 day old calf.

 

Next we walked outside to visit the horses and miniature donkeys.

Then a person from the Green Meadows staff announced that there would be a pig race starting soon so we sat down on the bleachers to watch. They assigned each section of the bleachers a different “color” pig to cheer for during the race. Clara was really excited to cheer for our pig but sadly he didn’t win this time :).

Next we made our way over to the dairy barn. I love the rustic charm of this barn!

Inside we met Stormy, a 2 year old Holstein. Clara enjoyed milking her with help from the nice farmhand.

We made our way around the farm to visit many of the other animals including emus, pigs, sheep, turkeys, chickens, ducks, kangaroos and goats. The staff at Green Meadows were all very friendly and knowledgeable about the animals.

At the event, there was also live music, an ice cream truck, and several other food vendors. They also had a pumpkin painting station, pony rides, face painting, rubber duck races, hay rides, combine play area, and a mobile gem mining station.

This was a fun event and we will definitely make it a yearly tradition for our family.  There was enough to see and do to keep my girls entertained for a few hours.  I love that it is also an educational activity for children. Always a win-win if you can entertain your kids and teach them something at the same time.

Other good information to know before you go:

•Tickets for the barnyard bash were $10 for anyone over 2 years old. Normal admission is $12.oo. There is a $2 off coupon available to print from their website.
•The farm is spread out, so you might want a stroller for little ones. It is fairly easy to get around pushing a stroller.
•The farm offers birthday parties and field trips for schools.
•Bathrooms and concessions available.
•Outside food and drink is allowed and there are picnic tables available.