Petting Zoo at Flamig Farm

 

PLEASE NOTE: This post was written in 2011 and while it should still give you a great idea of the overall experience, it may also contain some outdated information. Please be sure to check their website for the most up-to-date information, especially about things like hours & pricing. If you notice something in this post that needs to be updated, please feel free to leave a comment with the updated information, or email us at outandaboutmom@gmail.com and we will be happy to make the updates. Hey, it takes a village, right? ?

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2011 Post:

We were still experiencing 80 degree weather last Tuesday when we decided to take a trip to West Simsbury.  There is a petting zoo there that many moms have suggested I check out.  So we did.

We loaded the car, grabbed our friends Shawna and Boo and a few other friends and headed over to Flamig Farm.

It was about a 30 minute drive door-to-door from my house in West Hartford to the farm, but what a beautiful drive it was.  My husband was joining us, so he drove my car with my kiddos and I rode with Shawna because it was an opportunity for us to chit-chat (and my husband knows how we LOVE to chat!)

After a pretty drive, we arrived at the farm.  I think most people recognize the place because of this sign . . . 

Maybe it is a known fact in CT as to why this sign has eggs written backward, but I had no idea.  So we found that could give us the low down on this curious banner.  Basically, many years ago the town of West Simsbury would not allow the farm owners to display a banner on the side of this barn.  Apparently it was against town ordinance.  So, the creative farm owners put the letters up backwards and called it art.  Now it seems to be the symbol for the farm.  They have it on everything.  Isn’t it cute? 

So we unloaded the cars and the kids.  My husband and I were going to carry Bruiser and Sparkles in our baby bjorns.  Shawna was bringing Boo in his stroller and our other little friend was going to be checking out the farm on foot.

We headed up to the little check-in window and bought our tickets.  The cost to visit the petting zoo is $6/person (increased from $5).  If you haven’t turned 2 yet, it’s free and cups of grain are $1.

Ok, tickets paid for, grain in hand, everyone’s ready to go.

But where do we go?

As a person that thrives on order, I was looking for someone to hand me a map, a list of rules, point or push me in the right direction, but there was no such person in sight.

Now, it’s not that there isn’t order to the farm, it’s just that it is very laid back and casual.  As we started to head up the hill toward the sounds of snorting pigs and neighing horses, we saw a building with a sign for eggs.  A sweet woman walked by us and encouraged us to take a look inside the building.  She obviously worked at the farm (or maybe even was one of the owners) and she basically told us to go wherever we pleased.  Huh?  This sounded crazy to me.  Just go anywhere?

Yup, we could just wander.  There was no, go to building 1 first, we just made our way around the farm.  I guess that is what makes this the perfect environment for children to explore and learn.

We checked out the egg room.  Apparently we had just missed the collection of the eggs (9:30am), but we still were able to take a peek at the chickens and smell their lovely odor.  There were signs telling us you could buy the fresh eggs in their store and also a sign saying you could buy the chickens themselves ($13).

Speaking of signs, they are everywhere on this farm.  When you visit, those will be your best guide as to what you should and shouldn’t do.  They are also very cute!

We headed first to check out the donkeys.  They were eagerly awaiting our arrival.  Well, they were actually eagerly awaiting the arrival of our cups filled with grain.

We approached them and most of us were unsure as to how to feed the donkeys.  Not knowing what to do, we just stuck our cup out and let them go to town.

I then watched Shawna walk up and feed the donkey from her hand.  What!?!?  I didn’t realize that was an option.  I then tried it myself and walked away with all 10 fingers still in tact!

My husband yelled from around the corner that we needed to come check out a certain pig.

I headed over to this spot behind the donkeys, peeked my head in and both my friend and I were shocked.  Lying inside was the absolute largest pig I had ever seen.  His name is Dexter and he is HUGE.  I’m not even going to post a picture for you because #1 a picture wouldn’t do it justice and #2 you have to go see him in person.  Wow.

After that, we noticed that the donkeys had followed us over to the giant pig quarters.

So, of course, we needed to feed them some more!

We then headed over to visit with the horses (don’t feed these guys).

We also ran into two little boys and their mom while we were checking out the horses.  I noticed that they all came well prepared wearing boots.  Good call.  Next time I’m wearing my boots.

The boys had just finished their farm chores as part of one of the farm’s many educational programs.  Their mom said that they absolutely love the class and she had never seen her kids excited before to do chores.  Sounds like something I will be signing Bruiser and Sparkles up for in a few years.  (Get more info on their programs here).

Now, back to the animals.

Next stop was visiting with some very excited goats.  I learned quickly that we needed to re-instate the cup feeding style or else I would certainly be losing a finger in this process.

A friend told me that I really needed to keep a tight grip on my feed cup when trying to feed the goats or llamas.  Apparently they would like nothing better than to snatch that cup away from me.

I especially liked the goat pictured below.  This one was rather strong-willed and had an interesting technique of popping his head out from under the lowest ladder rung.  He looked like a puppet and I laughed every time he showed his Chewbaccaesque head.

We saw lots and lots of animals on the farm.  Chickens, bunnies, horses, donkeys, pigs, goats, llamas, roosters, dogs, etc.  It was really a lot of fun.

We then let the kids loose in the grass so that they could burn off a little steam.

There was also a few places on the property where you could sit with the kids and give them lunch or a snack.  And a handy place to clean up after petting all the animals.

There also seems to be an opportunity for pony rides on the weekends.  It wasn’t an option during our Tuesday visit, but it might make it a worthwhile weekend trip ($5 per ride).

Before we left the farm, we took a quick peek inside their store.

First to check off the list, bathrooms.  Inside they had bathrooms and a baby changing station (it is odd that I get excited when I see baby changing stations now, but they are just so darn helpful).  Check!

The store also had fresh eggs for sale, yummy snacks and drinks, and lots of fun {backward} egg merchandise.  I picked up a root beer.  Check!

Overall, I think the trip was a success.  The kids had fun (and were worn out) and the adults were able to enjoy a beautiful day, outside, with minimal stress.  I would certainly go back again to visit the petting zoo, send my kids to one of the programs, or check out the Halloween or Christmas activities.

After our visit, we headed back “over the mountain” to grab lunch at Panera Bread.  I was not familiar with the West Simsbury area and didn’t know where to go to grab a bite.  If anyone knows of a good place near the farm to grab lunch, please leave a comment and let us know!

THE MOMSENSE:

Flamig Farm

http://www.flamigfarm.com

7 Shingle Mill Road, West Simsbury, CT 06092-2311
(860) 658-5070

Get directions here:

Enter your starting address:

 

Petting Zoo:  Open April til November 9:00 am till 5:00 or dusk (whatever comes first)
Admission: $6.00 (increased from $5.00); If you haven’t turned 2 years old or are over 80 years old, admission FREE. You can now also purchase a season pass.

Restroom: yes

Changing station: yes

Stroller accessible:  yes

Discounts:  We are not aware of any opportunities for discounts into the petting zoo.

DO BRING:

A stroller and/or infant carrier for non-walkers

Walkers should be ok to roam free.  The area of the petting zoo is not too large and they don’t have to walk very far to get there.

Sanitizer if you want some extra hand washing protection after touching the animals.

Snacks or lunch if you want to eat on the farm (they also have basic snacks and drinks inside the store).

Cash for your entrance fee (I didn’t notice if they accepted credit cards).

Comfortable shoes and clothes (you’re on a farm, don’t wear anything you don’t want to get dirty)

COMING UP:

Tomorrow we’ll be tweeting live from the Big E.  Shawna and I have never been, so we are interested to see what we will discover.  If you want to follow us, go to our twitter page.  Also, if there are any specific things you want us to check on while we are there, just let us know.

Won’t have time to catch the live feed? No problem. Look for the highlights in our Big E
Roundup on Thursday.

SITE UPDATE:

We are slowly trying to make improvements to our blog {being the non-technical people that we are, this is a very slow process}.  Anyways, we have made one technological improvement in the last week, we added an option to get our posts sent directly to your email inbox.  Just go to our home page and enter your email address on the right-hand side.  We also have options to follow us through an RSS feed (just select the big orange button at the top right of the screen).  Check it out!