Green Acres Farm – Walnut Hill, Florida
Posted in Eating, Participating, Pensacola on November 20, 2009
Last weekend we had the opportunity to visit a small-scale sustainable farm with a local group of moms. Little S had so much fun wandering around the farm, seeing the animals, and working…yes…working! The farm owners put us to work because everyone on the farm has a job! Green Acres farm is a small-scale sustainable farm in Walnut Hill, Florida. They raise chickens and turkeys, sheep and goats, as well as collect eggs, pecans, and so much more. The land is beautiful and is left the way nature intends it. All of the animals live out in the open sunshine and eat the wild grass and bugs. When the farm owners talk about their farm, you can just see their love for their farm in their eyes. We started out our visit in the goat pen where the three little goats loved to eat the grass and the brambles from the children’s hand. These little guys were only about 2 months old!
After we saw the goats, we got our first job as farmhands. While Ida came through the area, the pecan trees were stripped of many of their pecans. We got to help pick up as many as we could find (and we even got to take a few home!).
Then we went to visit the turkeys. When we got to the turkey pen, we went inside and got into a big circle and sat as quiet as we could. Those turkeys sure are curious fellows! Once we settled down and got quiet, they came right up to us. The kids loved it when they made the gobble-gobble sound all together all at once!
Next, we went to check out how the chickens live. We also got a job here! We helped move the chicken coops to another area on the field. These little guys are too young to run free right now, but soon they will have free reign of the area! These are the chickens raised for meat.
I think this little guy might lay a scrambled egg!
After a little hayride, the kids got to collect eggs and paint the chicken coop!
She said she painted me a whale! I think she did a great job! What do you think?
These are the chickens raised for eggs.
And of course, I am always looking for a great photo opportunity!
Are you interested in visiting a farm? I found a few of these resources on the web to help you locate a farm near you or an area you are visiting!
Farm Visit - Plug in your county and find farms for specific fruits, veggies, and more.
Local Harvest - Search by farm, grocery or co-op or more
Open Farm Sunday – A day in June when you can visit and support your local farmers
Stop by DeliciousBaby to visit other Photo Friday participants! Thanks for hosting Debbie!
She did a fantastic job painting a whale! I love farm visits. I don’t know who gets more excited, me or the kids.
Love this. We should visit one of these next time we’re over that way. Looks like so much fun!
I love this. Thank you so much for posting the links on where to find one in your local area. Sounds like a fabulous trip, I hope we can reproduce one here.
I think she was meant for greater things – maybe a contemporary of Pollack or Picasso. Looks like you all had a great trip, wonder how the bird felt after all the attention.
Looks like a great trip and neat way to learn about sustainable farming…and to support local farms.
[...] back, we visited a small scale sustainable farm in Walnut Hill, Florida. When we were driving home, we drove past [...]