Tours
- Reserve
Here
Take a Tour at a working dairy farm in Paradise, Lancaster County,
Pennsylvania. There are three kinds of tours available at Farmland
Fun, depending on the time you want to spend and the depth of
skills you want to learn. Guests become a part of the working
farm during their stay, so activities can vary depending on the
season and daily farm schedule.
Farm and Barn Tour
Milk a cow, feed a calf, help feed the rabbits, goats, chickens,
turkeys, ducks, geese, swan or fish; learn how cows turn feed
into milk, let young cows and goats use their long tongues to
eat alfalfa from your hand, hold rabbits as they eat clover from
your hand, discover how post-&-beam barns are built.
Fee: Adult $8 & Child $5
Reserve
a Farm & Barn Tour online
Wagon
Ride & Farm Tour
The Farm & Barn tour (described above), plus join an excursion
by tractor and wagon through fields of corn, hay, and other crops
waving in the fields. See the verdant view of up to 20 miles,
learn about Amish and "English" ways, ask a farmer about farm
life. The wagon was uniquely designed by farmer Don Ranck, and
was built by a local firm. If you're lucky, you might even have
the chance to see a cow giving birth to a calf!
Fee: Adult $11 & Child $7
Reserve a Wagon Ride & Farm / Barn Tour online
Farmer's Apprentice
Farmer's Apprentice is a skill-based learning experience for those
who would like a more in-depth experience on the farm. In addition
to the farm & barn tour and the wagon ride (described above),
there are dozens of "hands on" farm activities for adults and
children, including cheesemaking, quilting and learning about
the history and issues in agriculture. By the end of your stay,
you will have a basic understanding about where your food comes
from, and a first-hand account of life "down on a real farm."
Activities are seasonal, and some only occur at certain times
of the day.
Here is a sampling of the Farmer's Apprentice activities:
- Make a batch of artisanal cheese
- Seasonal popcorn picking: Throughout the month of October,
pick your own ears of popcorn from the field, and watch a demonstration
on how to prepare it. Take your own popcorn home for $2 per
ear or $10 for 6 ears.
- Groom a baby calf for show competition
- Collect eggs from the farm chickens and poach, boil or make
an omelet
-
Feed,
water, and lead a goat
- Try your hand at making butter
- Make ice cream from scratch
- Learn how our post-and-beam bank barn was built by hand
- Quilt your own hot pad
- Arc weld your initials on a steel plate
- Catch and release fish in the farm pond
- See artificial insemination and learn bovine biology up close
and personal
- Plant, tend, or harvest vegetables in the garden
- Prepare your favorite from Ginny's 300 recipe Sharing our
Best cookbook
- Make your own preserves with seasonal fruit or vegetables
- Examine the botany of corn -- how the stalks, silks, and kernels
form
Adult $15/Youth $15/Child $15
Reserve
a Farmer's Apprentice experience online
All activities are weather dependent. Tours are available Monday
through Saturday, with limited tours on some Sunday afternoons.
To make a reservation, visit our online
reservations site, or call Farmland Fun at Verdant View at
1-888-321-8119 or 717-687-7353; or email at reservations@verdantview.com.
Click
here for printable page.
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