Today the moms group I lead met at Springdale Farm in Spencerport, NY. The farm is definitely on my kids top five favorite outings list. Upon arriving the first thing you come to is the play ground which is great when you are meeting friends, that way your kids are occupied while you wait for everyone to arrive. The farm is free to visit, although they do set up a petting zoo during the summer months which costs $1 per person and is free for under 2yr. Once the kids are done on the playground they definitely have animals on their minds so we head straight for the petting zoo. This is the star feature for the kids and we usually spend the majority of our time there. They have goats, sheep, and shetland ponies
Climbing the hay bales at Springdale Farms
roaming free for you to pet and feed(there are quarter vending machines with food). My favorite time to visit is in the early spring when all the animals are having their babies. When I took the girls in April we were able to pet 3 weeks old goats! Sooo cute! The goats are bigger now but still very cute and friendly, not crazy like at some petting zoos I’ve gone to. One we’d gone to the goats would butt you out of the way so they could eat straight out of the vending machine! But not here, there is plenty of hay around so you don’t even need to buy feed. Although one of the goats was set on proving the point that goats will really try to eat anything, it tried to eat one of my friends shirts, and tried to chew on my girls stroller! Anyways they also have various breeds of chickens in pens in the petting zoo area and a pair of turkeys too. They have also created a pyramid out of hay bales which the kids and kids(er goats) can climb on and through as they’ve made tunnels under it to crawl through.
Once your kids have finally had enough of petting and feeding the animals you can go check out the other barns. One of which you can go upstairs in to check out some hands on learning displays about life on a farm. Or you can walk around the large pens which contain more sheep, horses, and the
Katrina and her best friend David at Springdale Farm
biggest pigs you’ll ever see. The one pig weighs in at 1000 pounds! There are also a pair of peacocks and lots of bunnies. Once the kids have had enough of animals we move on to the beautiful gardens, there is an assortment of them which are labeled and divided up nicely to help teach the kids about where food comes from. They have a “pizza” garden which grows tomatoes and onions, and garlic, etc. And there are vegetable and berry gardens, and a cute play area surrounded by tall plants like sunflowers that create a hedge around it. Then you see a green house which you might think about skipping, which I did the first number of times we went and then one day my girls followed a butterfly inside and discovered a sand table inside! They love it and I usually end up finding a chair and watching them play for a half hour til they decide we should go see the animals one more time before heading back out to the playground again.
There is also a working dairy farm on the farm which you can tour for an additional fee if you are interested. I have taken the girls once to see it and found it very interesting because they have this amazing automated system for milking the cows that washes them, milks them and monitors their
Mikayla feeding the baby goats
production all by itself. I will definitely take the girls again in a few years when they are old enough to understand what they are being told, but they enjoyed it simply because they got to see cows and newborn calves. Tours are available Monday through Saturday at 11:00 am and 2:00 pm. Cost is $3 for Adults (ages 12-62), $2 for Youth (ages 3-11) and Seniors (age 63+) and free for Kids (ages 2 and under).
The farm itself is owned by Monroe County so it’s a county park but Heritage Christian homes leases it
to provide jobs and training for people with developmental disabilities. Springdale Farm is open Monday through Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 4:00 p.m. Please note that the farm is closed on New Year’s Day, Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas Day.
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Driving Directions |
| Springdale Farm is just a 15-minute drive west from Rochester, New York. |
| From Syracuse, New York: From NYS Thruway exit 45, take Route 490 West and exit at Route 531. Continue all the way until the end and turn left on Washington Street (Rt. 36). Turn right onto Colby Street. Springdale Farm is one mile down the road on the right side. |
| From Buffalo, New York: From NYS Thruway exit 47, take Route 490 East to exit #1 (LEROY/BROCKPORT). Continue on Route 19 North for approximately 10 miles and turn right onto Colby Street. Springdale Farm is 3 miles down the road on the left side. |