On a trip to Cleveland last October, the fam decided to get out of the city and spend some time in Amish Country. In the course of several Google searches for things to do, I came across an intriguing place called The Farm.
Sidebar: central Ohio is surprisingly beautiful.
We arrived at The Farm fairly late in the day and were the only people there.
After feeding some goats we jumped on a flat bedded carriage and our guide led us into the animal preserve.
From the description online, we were aware that The Farm housed some fairly unusual animals, but we had no idea they would all live in the same preserve.
We’re talking buffalos and zebras living with potbellied pigs and reindeer.
And they all were wise to what the carriage represented – food!
The llamas were absolutely ruthless in their quest for grub. They pushed other animals out of the way, snuck their heads under the benches and knocked over food buckets to get their fill.
Our guide also warned us to watch out for the zebras, “You can never trust a zebra!”
After a ride through the woods (to grandmother’s house we go) we got to the giraffe enclosure. The Sweeneys (Aussie fam) have a real thing for giraffes and they were beyond excited to get to the see the giraffes up close.
Some of the smaller animals had their own enclosures (so they didn’t get trampled by the larger residents). There was everything from pheasant, monkeys and porcupines to lemurs, akeda and emu.
And there were even kangaroos and wallabies to which Courtney remarked, “these are so much better than the ones we have at home!”
It was crazy to see so many exotic animals in the middle of Ohio. So out of place, but it made for an unexpectedly amazing day.
Amish house
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Well, now I have to know… why can’t you trust a zebra? Love the shot of the buffalo getting a snack. Thanks for sharing!
That looks like the perfect place to spende a weekend 🙂
I’ve seen this place advertised, but never gone there. Looks pretty amazing.
We do go to Ohio a lot, and agree that parts of it are surprisingly beautiful (we especially like Hocking Hills in southern Ohio and some of the area around Cleveland like Chagrin Falls or Amish area east of there, and the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
Llamas can be pretty single minded 😆
Zebras are just really clever and cunning. And they stalked the carriage the entire time, stealing food whenever they got the chance.