Oliver Kelley Farm

Excellent adventure for children, especially in fall. We went with our homeschooling co-op. Was a great opportunity to showcase bits and pieces of historical farm life. They have some beautiful livestock, and overall a scenic farm.My advice -- (1) be sure to bring a stroller with nice, large wheels so that you can pass through some rocky trails and long grass. (2) bring some food and a picnic blanket. This farm is the perfect place for a family picnic, and (3) bring lots of water. There is a beautiful trail that you'll want to take advantage

I came here for a special event called Tour De Farm, which is a farm to table picnic. The concept is simple, you eat on the farm a meal which is prepared only from ingredients from the farm.A 3 year old pig was the special guest of honor for the day and she played an important role in most of the dishes. Tour guides from the historical society dressed in time period costumes to give the tours which really gave the whole thing a special ambiance.They also had a horse drawn trolley to take guest around and show them the vast acres of farm land. Animals from pigs, cows, chickens and horses where all there and what makes this farm so special is it is purely educational. No food is sold from here, it is only used to teach people about farming so if you want to experience a farm go to the website find out more about how to take a tour. It's inexpensive, pretty close to the city and great for kids!

As a monument to Oliver Kelley and the National Grange, this historic site is welcome. But the intro documentary shown in the Vistor's Center should also have explained why the Grange declined instead of pretending it's still going today in its original form. As a farm, not very educational, you will learn far more at the Minnesota State Fair for about the same price. More of a place for city children to engage with farm animals. A huge missed opportunity to teach people about the history of Minnesota agriculture, if that's really the direction the revamped facility seems to want to take.

If you happen to have kids who like the Little House on the Prairie series, this Minnesota Historical Site visit is a must! My kids and I have always had fun on all our visits over the years, starting when my youngest was about 5 and up to now when my oldest is about 10. The farm workers encourage visitors to participate in the farm life, so we've been able to thresh oats with a flail (which we finally understand after reading the description in Farmer Boy), pump and haul water for the horse trough, learn how to sew a button hole (another Little House scene), pull weeds from the garden and feed them to the sheep, and best of all, participate in the sorghum harvest. I never even knew what sorghum was! So it was great being allowed to hack down the stalks in the field (that activity was adult only), lop off the tops with a funky homemade cutting tool (kids did get to do that), and then feed the stalks into the sorghum press that's operated by one of the farm's horses (also kid allowed). Plus the kids got to help stir the cooking sorghum and taste some of the yummy treats made with the finished product.It really gives you a sense of how hard life was back then, and the kids get lots of exercise, fresh air, etc. One time we showed up and "dinner" (our version of lunch) at the farm house was a beef heart stewing in a cast iron pot on the wood burning stove! Nothing like that visual and smell to make my kids appreciate their food choices at home a little more...There are picnic tables overlooking the farm up on a patch of prairie, which is also fun to run around on a la Little House, so it's easy to pack a lunch and stay all day. There are more picnic tables on a walking loop to the river, so if it's hot you have a shady place to eat lunch. There's also an air conditioned indoor exhibit area with bathrooms, gift shop, and drinking fountains, although we usually end up spending the entire time outside. It is a fair amount of walking on unpaved surfaces, so families with really little ones might want to ditch the stroller and use the baby carrier instead. But kids even as young as 2-3 years old will have fun tossing sorghum seeds to the chickens or petting the horses through the fence.Sometimes there are larger school or summer program groups visiting, but for the most part it often feels like you have the place to yourselves. Even with the larger groups, you can always just go to the area where they aren't, as there's the main house, the barn, the field, and the garden areas to choose from.My only problem with visiting is that it's always a struggle to drag my kids away when it's time to go back home!

This place is excellent. Experience a working 1850's farm! Everyone was friendly, including the animals.