This entry was posted on Monday, March 3rd, 2008 at 5:28 am and is filed under Animals, Bay Area Backroads, Pictures. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
“The Cheese Stands Alone” may be their slogan - and the cheese is very good - but the goats stand by the dozens, and this time of year it’s all about the kids. No, not those kids, the baby goat kind of kids. That’s right, we took the children to see Harley Farms and we’re now recommending it to every person we can, because the 60 odd 5 - 10 day old goats are overwhelmingly cute, and the personable, professional staff at Harley make it a location not to be missed.
Situated in the near-the-ocean town of Pescadero, California, Harley Farms is a small farm and dairy that would be wonderful all by itself, but includes the added benefit of having an award-winning selection of goats cheese. We tried a few varieties and I can’t recommend them highly enough. When we first visited a few months back we ran into the owner’s son and a trio of off-season baby goats. As we continued on about how cute they were he said that we’d have to come back at the end of February or the beginning of March so that we could see when they had hundreds of babies prancing about. Being March 1, we decided to give it a peek and see what the girls take on the babies would be. The experience far exceeded my wildest dreams and expectations.
Our arrival at the farm was entertaining enough, because there were two baby goats penned up in a way that allowed the girls to pet them. The pair couldn’t have been more than a week or two old an the fence was setup in a such a way tha their little hands were unubstructed in petting these mirraculous little creatures. It’s difficult to explain, for those of you that don’t have kids of your own, how great it feels to have your children touch nature that they won’t see regularly in our cement playgrounds. The farm also has chickens, hundreds of grown goats, a dog, a llama named Bart and a warmth that made me feel very welcome - and thankful.
As I mentioned, there is more to Harley Farms than animals and cheese, there is a warm and inviting staff. And that is what made this trip special - that an an invitation to bring the girls into the pen with what had to be over 50 baby goats - between 5 and ten days old! You can’t even imagine how cute these little creatures are and when they’re together like that it’s an overwhelming experience. They’re so little and yet they look like full grown goats, so it’s like a bunch of little children (I guess that’s why they call them kids) and they’re running around, playing, eating, checking out the people, and having a good ol’ time. They’re good ol’ time lead to Sofi and Natalie having a wonderful time, including holding goats, hugging goats, naming goats, and so much more.
I’m not sure what the high-point would have been, but I tried to capture a few pictures (almost 500 total) of the goats and the girls playing with the goats. I’m sharing a few here, but telling everyone that they have to make the trip out to see this for themselves. Pack a lunch, buy some cheese, and enjoy the pleasure that new life has to offer. While we were there, within a few minutes of our arrival, a stumbling baby goat was born, which, for those of you that can bear it, brings the real farm feeling home - this is about more than entertaining our children - it is about life and love and happiness and what it means to be a parent and a child.
Sorry for rambling on in this post, but looking at the photos brings back memories and laughter - and a wish, for my children and yours - that they may not forget what it’s like to be a kid - even when they’ve become an old goat.
Papa
