Quit blaming the groundhog for the weather. The baby animals at Indian Ladder Farms prove that spring is here.
Indian Ladder’s annual spring event, Baby Animal Daze, not only brings smiles to visitors’ faces, but also represents the beginning of the farm’s growing season. It’s a welcoming of new life and a promise of earth’s bounty to come.
It’s also a favorite with area families.
It gives kids the experience to get close to animals, to pet the animals, said Liesl Bailey, special events coordinator at Indian Ladder Farms. Animal guides are there to assist, holding the animals for kids to touch.
For first timers ` kids who haven’t experienced baby chicks or bunnies ` it can be `really special,` said Bailey. So much so, that kids who’ve come in the past insist on return visits.
The babies this year are bunnies, pigs, calves, goat kids, lambs, and assorted poultry chicks. Even turkey chicks, `which are really, really cute,` said Bailey, before they grow up and become, well, rather ugly.
Another building hosts a Farm Animal Learning Center with hands-on exhibits about domesticated animals and products that come from them, as well as how to feed and care for animals. Bailey said it’s `where you can learn about the co-dependence between animals and people.`
Baby Animal Daze runs through Sunday, April 22, with special events on the weekends. Also on weekends, pony rides and horse drawn wagon rides will be available.
Companion animals will be featured during the weekend of April 14 and15. A local adoption agency will bring dogs and cats looking for homes. A new addition to the pets’ weekend will be Musher Vick and his Second Chance sled dogs, adoptees trained to work as a sled team.
The Blessing of the Animals will take place Sunday, April 15 at 2 p.m. Visitors are welcome to bring their own pets to the ceremony. A procession around the farm will allow the farm’s own animals to be blessed.
Earth Day will be celebrated during the weekend of April 21 and 22. Worm composting, recycling events, and nature walks will be featured, said Bailey, `and Kelly Martin is bringing her raptors.`
Another new attraction from April 21 to 22 is a weekend camp, called Wigwam Weekend and led by naturalist and native peoples educator Vince Walsh of the Kawing Crow Awareness Center. Kids enrolled in the camp will learn to harvest tree bark and weave it into the structure using the methods of northeastern woodland peoples, like the Iroqouis. Tuition is $85 for the two-day camp, including lunch.
If it’s just the baby animals you want, however, Bailey said weekday mornings are the least crowded time (although the farm does host school field trips during this time).
It’s easy to spend a full day at Indian Ladder. Start in the baby animals barn, and then proceed to the Farm Animal Learning Center. After lunch at the farm’s Yellow Rock CafE, Bailey suggests either climbing Mount Mac for a terrific view of the surrounding area, including the Helderberg escarpment, or hiking the one-mile nature trail through the woods. `There’s a lot of birds and tracks back there,` she said.
You can also visit the farm animals, including Rosie the Scottish Highland cow and Eeyore the donkey.
Bailey recommends finishing with a visit to the market, containing `gifts from down the road and around the world.` Many visitors won’t leave without a bag of Indian Ladder’s cider donuts, made onsite.
The Baby Animal Daze celebrates a new season.
`It kicks off spring perfectly,` Bailey said.
Indian Ladder Farms is located at 342 Altamont Road in Voorheesville. For information, call 765-2956 or visit the Web site, www.indianladderfarms.com. “
