I love Indiana. I love the fact that it takes about 20 minutes to get from the burbs to the center of downtown, yet there is no shortage of farms to visit within a 40-mile radius. We have orchards and pumpkin patches, urban farms, honey farms, lavender farms, meat and dairy farms, and on and on.
But sometimes, every once in a while, it’s nice to step out a bit further and enjoy a day trip to somewhere new. I recently learned of a small family-owned farm operating in Muncie and knew this was a good opportunity to do just that. Til the Rooster Crows Ranch raises chickens, ducks, geese and pigs. But they also work with the local animal shelter to rescue and foster animals. So in addition to your standard farm animals, you can also check out a box turtle (which my kids named Shelley), a few snakes, a tegu lizard and more. While we were visiting, they had a litter of kittens they were fostering, as well as some baby bunny rabbits they rescued.
Visit Tips:
What to Expect – Visits must be scheduled in advance, but plan to stay a while. Farm owners Lauren Celentano and Jason Eastwood are so personal and great at teaching the kids all the various parts of the farm. I felt like we could have stayed for hours. The kids and I got to feed the chickens from our hand (I’ve never done that!), collect eggs and prepare snacks for the various animals on the farm. Lauren even took the boys for a walk along the pond to collect herbs. As a result, we all got to taste fresh mint. Fishing is available too, but it was a bit too hot the day we visited.
What to Bring – When scheduling our visit, Lauren encouraged us to bring some snacks for the animals. I thought this was a great chance to teach the kids about what the animals eat and to explain the rules of the farm. I explained to them that some farmers allow their animals to eat just about anything. However, larger commercial farms are pretty strict about animal feed. And some farmers will only allow organic produce or certain grains. Then, of course, each animal is different in what they can (and will) eat. There’s a lot that goes into running a farm and I love that we can use these opportunities to teach the kids about all the different approaches.
Clean Socks – Some of the exotic animals are kept inside their home. To see them, you’ll have to go inside, which means you’ll have to take off your shoes. There’s nothing worse than getting caught with your big toe sticking out. So make sure to have good clean socks. The house is very well kept (cleaner than mine!), but those allergic to dogs or cats might want to skip this portion of the tour, or bring along extra Benadryl, just in case.
Additional Information:
To learn more or to schedule a tour, email Lauren at rencelentano@gmail.com or check them out on facebook. Tours are free, but donations are welcome. You can also purchase the eggs you collect for $4 a dozen. My kids love seeing the varying colors of each egg, especially the blue ones!