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Down on the Farm
Escape to Simplicity, Education and Livestock!
By Jacqueline Rupp
in New Albany, Pa. "Aside from basic organic animal, fruit and produce production methods, we hope visitors learn to appreciate farming as the source of what sustains them. We consider it our mission to use our farm to communicate with all ages the need to maintain local production of our food."
Most children don't even think about where the food on their plates came from. A farm can change this.
"Most parents say that their children learn that their food doesn't just come from the supermarket," says Ted Abahazy of Canter Berry Tails Apple Ranch Farm in Aspers, Pa. "Our guests get so excited after picking their own sweet corn and cooking it for supper when it is most sweet. Seeing the accomplishment on the children's faces when they have filled a bag with the very best apples on the tree makes us smile."
"Farmer Dale talks to the families about the machinery, what living on a farm was like 50 or 100 years ago," says Marcy Tudor about the children's program at her farm, Weatherbury, in Avella, Pa. "Our kids program gives them a lot of information about farms and agriculture."
Have you longed to stay at a quaint bed and breakfast but were discouraged by the fact that many bed and breakfasts aren't kid friendly? Farm accommodations offer homey rooms you can't find at a chain hotel, relaxing common areas, wraparound porches and beautiful views. "Our bedrooms have themes," says Abahazy. "Since we're near Gettysburg, there's the north and south bedrooms, the garden room and hunting/fishing room."
"Accommodations range from tent camping to luxury suites in farmhouses," says Nadine Fox of Buck Valley Ranch. "You may have to share a bathroom; there may not be TV, telephones, coffee pots or other things. There probably isn't room service, and your linens may not be changed every day."
