...was a lonely goatherd
Lay ee odl lay ee odl lay hee hoo!
Come on people, this is a family blog after all.
Today Marion and Dad discovered a hidden gem in the vast urban forest known as the Amsterdamse Bos. Called a geitenboerderij in Dutch, the goat farm is home to over a hundred goats and many other animals, and is an actively producing dairy farm. The farm was a solid half-hour bike ride away from our house, and since she was so exhausted from that ride, Marion decided to hop on Dad's shoulders for the lengthy walk from the bike parking lot to the farm entrance.
Right away we saw a group of younger kids playing on benches and play structures.
And some older kids playing on a tractor.
We also encountered a plethora of chickens and roosters,
a camera-shy cow,
some pigs,
and the farm's only horse, who shared living quarters with the egg-laying hens.
After we had walked around outside for a while, we headed inside to see how the dairy farm worked. The main goat facility was quite large and had many neat climbing features for the goats.
There was a children's feeding area where young ones could bring a bottle of milk into a holding pen and feed the goats. This kid lost his bottle and the goat began chewing on his jacket sleeve instead. About 1.5 seconds after this photo was taken, everyone in the picture started having a real bad day...
Of course there was an abundance of milking apparatuses.
And the farm had a small market that sold products made from goats' milk, like this impressive assortment of cheese.
There was also this grim reminder about the nature of life on the farm. At least you know where it came from..
After sampling some fresh goat cheese (sadly Marion was not a fan), we headed back outside to see what else we could find on the farm. We found where they store the hay bales.
We found a dare-you-to-walk-under-me goat bridge.
And then we found a kids' playground, complete with zip line. Apparently this is just a thing in the Netherlands - they love themselves a zip line.
Marion's favorite part was the swingset.
This was the giant grass field directly behind the farm.
On our way out, we passed by some children playing with the larger goats and pigs (seemed pretty sketch).
And this guy, who was offering his fingers to a goat and then screaming when it nibbled on him. As his parents were nowhere to be found, Dad made an executive decision to let this kid learn from his own mistakes.
After that experience we packed up our gear and headed out. What a cool place though to spend a few hours learning about goats. Thanks geitenboerderij!
