What better way to start the Fall season, than with carving pumpkins! Have you ever carved a pumpkin? Have you ever carved a pumpkin while tending to two very active 4-year olds? Let’s add a plot twist. Have you ever carved a pumpkin with two active 4-year olds in a pasture full of baby goats?
Happy Monday! I hope you had an amazing weekend. This past weekend, my nieces and I attended the United Service Organizations (USO) Outdoor Adventure Team Pumpkin Carving with Goats event. As a member of the NC Army National Guard, I was able to receive tickets to this event for free. The USO of North Carolina’s Outdoor Adventure Team (OAT) is a peer-led health and wellness program designed for service members and their families to connect over physical challenges and adventures to encourage sustainable healthy living. While I do not have any children of my own, I thought this would be a great experience for my nieces!
For starters, I’ve never carved a pumpkin, nor seen a goat, alive. I’ve eaten goat on multiple occasions and after today, I probably would never eat it again. Lol. This was a first of many for me and it was a lot harder than I expected. Don’t get me wrong, I had an AMAZING time and so did they. Of course kids will be kids, so after about 5 minutes, they were off chasing the goats, playing with them, feeding them and left me to tend to carving the pumpkins alone. They were having fun and that’s what mattered.
They don’t call me the favorite aunt for no reason.
About Spring Haven Farm
Spring Haven Farm, located in Chapel Hill, opened up to the public in 2016 with a primary goal of building community through agriculture. They focus on three things: kindness, family, and joy. The kindest shown to the animals builds a foundation for respect and caring. Their animals are ultimately a reflection of them and how they treat others. Building and strengthening of the community is created through positive human and animal interactions. They also provide information and education about the agricultural world. As a hub to the community, visitors are able to share experiences and the joy of the farm. Spring Haven Farm is a family friendly farm with fun for everyone.
After checking-in, we headed to the pumpkin patch to pick our pumpkins to carve. As you can see, they were excited about that.
All the tools needed to carve the pumpkins were available at each table. The pasture was full of cute, friendly goats and boy were they ready! As I prepared the table, I turned to find the goats already eating at my pumpkin before we could get started. The goats enjoyed nibbling on the insides of the pumpkins as we prepared them. I don’t know who was more excited, the goats or the kids. It was so cute to watch and funny at the same time. At one point, the baby goat started nibbling on my purse.
Aside from the pumpkin carving, the farm had other animals and activities for the kids to enjoy. Peppa the Pig, Annie the Donkey, and Flynn the Horse were are all eager for attention, snacks, and love. Unfortunately, due to the weather, we did not participate in all the festivities the farm had to offer, but we most definitely had a great time.
How to Purchase Tickets and COVID-19
You can schedule your visit to the farm online with an arrival time between 10:00am and 4:00pm, Wednesday – Sunday. Each hour has a limited number of tickets available. Once on the farm you can stay as long as you like. The farm is open until 6:00pm or later depending on the event. This event lasted until 8pm.
If you are concerned about COVID, know that the Farm is all set up to allow for social distancing and there are plenty of hand sanitizer stations and hand washing areas.
All in all, our visit to Spring Haven Farm was a great one with lots of activities, beautiful sceneries and adorable animals. I 100% recommend this outing for a date with bae or a fun-filled outing with the family. It was an incredible experience and the kids loved it.
Schedule your visit to Spring Haven Farm here.
Check out more USO Activities here
