Trending: Maplewood Farm
This cute little demonstration farm is tucked away down a side street in North Vancouver. It is all the things a farm should be according to children’s storybooks: cows, chickens, goats, horses, pigs, and a big red barn.
Chicken feed
Remember to ask for a bag of chicken feed when you pay your admission, and then help small ones ration it out. There are chickens, geese, and ducks to feed all over the farm. You can bring your own lunch and eat at the picnic tables, though the squirrels and crows know all about this, so guard your sandwiches!
Check it out
No really, feed the bunnies
Our publisher Christine says: “Be sure to bring something to feed the bunnies.” I hear they love greens even more than carrots. “There’s a playground beside the parking lot to spend a few minutes of play time before heading home.”
My personal favourite are the pygmy goats. You can go hang out in their paddock and pet them, they are incredibly calm animals. Kids love crawling around the hill and tunnel built for the goats, and the goats don’t seem to mind at all.
Excellent for preschoolers
Local mom Gwen Floyd says it’s particularly good for the preschool set. “Lots of animals to touch, the farm isn’t too big, and birds to feed. The washrooms are spacious and clean.”
The farm also hosts farm birthday parties in their new indoor space with windows most of the way around, so you’re surrounded by animals. Pretty cool.
Maplewood Farm, 405 Seymour River Place, North Vancouver, 604-929-5610
Erin McGann is the former Managing Editor for Vancouver Mom and Toronto Mom Now. She drinks just a bit too much coffee, is a bit obsessed about sourcing local food, plays the cello moderately well, spends too much time on Twitter, keeps honeybees on a rooftop, and has a thing for single-malt whisky. Erin is working on a novel set in turn-of-the-century Vancouver, which her husband, son and dog have to hear about all the time, and also blogs at Erin at Large.