Susan Kirby

The Queens County Farm Museum is one of the hidden gems of New York City. The farm covers 47 acres, and has been continuously farmed since 1697. It is a special place where “city folk” can visit a farm, take a hay ride, and see the land and animals up close and personal. We were there during the winter, but during the summer there are plantings and field trips, among other educational opportunities.

When you first walk onto the property (we took a subway and bus to get there), you will see a wonderful painted cow from the NY Dairy Farmers. The art is quite fun, even though the farm itself has two steer but no milk cows. The Adriance Farmhouse dates to about 1772. We couldn’t go inside, but were able to admire the outside. Across from the farmhouse is the Farm Store, where I was able to buy a $3 bag of alfalfa to feed the goats and sheep. (The farm doesn’t allow you to feed the alpacas, apparently because they spit.) Also available daily are eggs from the farm (they were sold out when we arrived), honey, and coffee and snacks. We also bought $5 hayride tickets.

The highlights of the farm, for me, are the animals. When we visited, we saw 150-250 hens (heritage and rare breeds); 2 steer (neutered male cattle; Dexter breed); 6 sheep (Cotswold, Romney, and Cormo breeds); 8 goats (Nubian, Lamancha and Saanen breeds), 2 alpaca (Huacaya breed); 2 pigs (Kunekune breed); and the apiary, where honeybees produce honey sold in the Farmn Store. For me, the alpacas are the highlight, but who wouldn’t love a face like this?

We visited before Christmas, and were also able to purchase tickets for the Illuminate the Farm installation on the farm. It was a beautiful setting for amazing lanterns, part of the Winter Lantern Festival in the city. I have filmed other Lantern Festival installations (see the Photography page on this Web site), and was impressed that the displays were geared for a farm, with farm animals and lots of really neat insects. I put together a video celebrating the farm itself and the Illuminate the Farm installation. The music is Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony (Pastoral), arranged for recorders and performed by Papalin, and Sheep May Safely Graze. You can hear the alpacas trill at 7 minutes.

Although the fields were fallow for winter, we were able to see where the corn had grown, and walk by the compost heap with lots and lots of pumpkins. This selection of photos gives you a bit of the farm experience.

The highlights of the farm, for me, are the animals. This slideshow gives a sampling of the beauty of the livestock we saw on the farm. The chickens, steer, pigs, goats, sheep and, of course, the alpacas, made our day! E, I, E, I, O my!

The following gallery has some photos I want to share, including one taken by Melody Andres of me feeding the goats. Also here are a photo of a song sparrow we were able to photograph (we saw some other birds, but photos eluded us), some poinsettias for sale in the Farm Store, and some more photos from the Illuminate the Farm installation. All were taken December 17, 2021, at the Queens County Farm Museum.