Review of Acorn Lane Farm at Boone Gardiner Garden Center in Crestwood

LouFamFun's Acorn Lane album on Photobucket

One of the LouFamFun writers received a flyer about this place, Acorn Lane Farm, and we decided since none of the writers had been there, we should go as a group!  We met up on a hot summer morning at 10am at Boone Gardiner Garden Center (6300 Old LaGrange Road) in Crestwood. It is very easy to find off of Highway 329.  It is open from 10am-6pm  Tuesday – Saturday and you stop in at the front office to head out to the petting zoo area.  Note, they have a bathroom in the main building at the front!

Our guide was Ms. Hope.  She was extremely personable and spoke to the kids right at their level of understanding.  She was patient and knowledgeable.  She explained the guidelines about approaching each animal, gave out the food to the kids to use to feed the animals and told us about each animal.  She obviously cares very much about the farm.

We toured with her and saw baby turkey, bunnies, chickens and roosters, goats, a variety of pigs and alpaca.  The kids loved feeding the goats treats out of ice cream cones and throwing marshmallows (aka Piggy Puffs) into the pig areas for them to gobble up.  Stand back, some of the pigs splatter mud! Outside, the kids greeted and fed donkeys and a horse.  The kids fed them animal crackers one by one and with the horse, Ms. Hope was very watchful of the kids’ little fingers.  As we left, Ms. Hope brought out some fish feed and told the kids about the koi pond at the front and let them feed them too.

I noticed that they have big mulch piles that they allow the kids to climb as well as picnic tables for snacking or lunch.  It was a bit hot and humid the day we went so we didn’t do either of these things.  Also, Ms. Hope mentioned that they have 2 bee hives for honey bees and sometimes during educational field trips or events, they will show these to the kids.  She also said they do birthday parties (with tractor rides).

All in all, for $5, I think it’s a great place to visit with young kids. They get up close to the animals and learn about them from a staff person no matter when you visit.  It’s a change of scenery from the zoo or Henry’s Ark without a large cost and while you are there, you can pick up some fresh veggies to take home for dinner. You can’t do that at the zoo!

Stephanie

From the writers:
Erin “I never really venture out to Oldham county and loved the drive! My son is under 2 and really had a blast-I had him in a stroller and was able to maneuver pretty well. He was really enamored with seeing animals from his books in real life and even took his turn feeding one of the horses! I loved how they had a butterfly garden.”

Brandy “The kids and I really enjoyed the up-close animal encounters. I personally found it strange that we were encouraged to feed processed “human” food to some of animals. It seemed to go against the otherwise “natural” vibe of the place.
I’m always telling our kids that our dog shouldn’t eat “people food.” Luckily they didn’t catch on to the inconsistency.”

Karen – from her son “Looks like I don’t needs a bath tonight mom!” – following being licked across his knee by a goat

Whitney: “What a great place to bring the little ones. For those of us looking for an “all ages” activity, this definitely goes on the list. My 4 ages 3-10 were all smiles. Great way to introduce the kids to a working farm.”

Lauren: “At Acorn Lake, I loved how she taught the kids information about the different animals. It wasn’t just a petting zoo, it was a great lesson that was really fun for the kids. I was very excited to find out they have birthday parties also!”

DCPD
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