Farm Day: Homestead Creamery Affords Families a Day on a Working Farm

We just enjoyed our first Farm Day at Homestead Creamery, an annual fall event full of farm fun and yummy dairy product tastings.  At Farm Day, kids can pet farm animals, ride a "trackless train" made of 50-gallon drums, climb up on tractors, and play on a mountain of sawdust.  There's a hayride, a blacksmithing demonstration, and a few local crafters, too.  It's a great way for this local, responsible business to "give back," and visitors partake in a really inexpensive day of adventure.  We spent $6 to buy ice cream--and that was it.  Unlike many of the local fall pumpkin farms, attraction-type activities are free.  We were impressed with the staffing, too:  golf cart shuttles from parking, local law enforcement helping direct traffic, and unharried employees explaining cow milking to kids over and over again.  The downside?  It's just one day.

If you go, plan to be outside in crowded situations, and bring a vehicle you are comfortable parking in a field.  We recommend arriving early.  The farm is stroller-navigable if you work at it; we toted our 5-month-old in her car seat carrier and found this convenient, as we could "sit" her down while our 4-year-old enjoyed attractions.  Bring hunger and cash for really good ice cream and fair food...or plan to drive to nearby Rocky Mount for fast food and other conveniences.  For the best online information on Homestead Creamery, search for them on Facebook.  If you are looking for something else to do in the area, try the Booker T. Washington National Monument, blogged here in a Halterman Weekend from a few years back.