Sweet Grown Alabama Blogs

Calling all teachers! Are you ready to start planning fun, educational, hands-on field trips for your kiddos to enjoy this school year? Sweet Grown Alabama has put together a list of farms across the state that want to host your classroom for a day of learning on their farm. 

North Alabama

• Cornutt Farms- Boaz

Contact: Cara Cornutt

Email address: cornuttfarms@gmail.com

Cornutt Farms offers field trips in October to the sunflower and pumpkin patch. At Cornutt Farms, students are able to pick their own pumpkin straight off the vine and cut their own sunflowers from the stem. At Cornutt Farms, students will have hands on experiences with farm animals and even take a hay ride to the pumpkin patch. Cornutt Farms also provides a wide variety of playground equipment and fun activities for all ages.

For more information visit their Facebook page.
 

• Gardens on Air- Hokes Bluff

Contact: Lee Harrison

Email address: gardensonair1@gmail.com

Gardens on Air, a hydroponic farm in North Alabama, offers several packages for students with ranging ages and education levels. While planting seeds and gaining hands-on experience, students can snack on treats from the Gardens on Air restaurant, XeroCal.

For more information visit their Facebook page.

• Grand Oaks Farm- Fort Payne

Contact: Kate Groff

Email address: grand.oaks@yahoo.com

Grand Oaks Farm, located on Sand Mountain, offers tours of their beautiful lavender, sunflower and annual flower fields. The Groff family does a great job explaining to students what it is like growing different flowers on their farm, including seedbed preparation, crop selection, planting and harvesting.

For more information visit their website.

• Hidden Rivers Farm- Hartselle

Contact: Mary-Sidney Ritch

Email address: hiddenriversfarm@gmail.com

Hidden Rivers Farm has a variety of farm animals, pumpkin picking, pumpkin painting, scarecrow building, nature trails, apple cannons, a four-acre maze, and other games and activities throughout the farm. Field trips are available September 22-October 29.

For more information visit their website.

• Hubert Family Farms- New Market

Contact: Kaylee Hubert

Email address: hubertfamilyfarms@gmail.com  

Hubert Family Farms offers many activities including childrens floral bouquet making, a petting zoo, wagon rides, a corn maze during the fall and hay maze during the spring.

For more information visit their website.

• Mullins Orchard- Meridianville

Contact: Debi Mullins

Email address: debimullins@icloud.com 

Mullins Orchard is a family-owned seasonal u-pick orchard open since 2008. They have six acres of blackberries, blueberries, muscadines and pecans. They offer educational tours for homeschool families and schools. Students can learn about planting, pruning, care of plants and harvesting. They also raise pygmy goats and chickens for kids to enjoy! 

For more information visit their Facebook page. 

• North Alabama Agriplex- Cullman

Contact: Julie Kelly

Email address: jkellyagriplex@gmail.com

The North Alabama Agriplex offers a variety of hands-on educational programs tailored to each grade. They have a hatchet inspired field trip that allows students to practice hands-on skills like fire building, wild edibles, shelter building and water collection/purification. They also offer farm to table field trips where students can plant and learn about the importance of growing their own food. Other field trips to the Agriplex include a tour of the Agriplex, Bugs 'n Slugs (early fall or late spring and summer), Soil Science, Apples (September only), Pumpkin Palooza (October-November), Little Red Hen (fall), Life Cycles (late spring to early fall) and Botany Basics. 

For more information visit this link.

• Stebbins Family Farm- Athens

Contact: Kristen Stebbins

Email Address: stebbinsfamilyfarm@gmail.com

Stebbins Family Farm is open for tours and visits with the animals. Other activities at the farm include butter making, ice cream making, milking goats and cows, building raised beds, games (corn hole, beanbag toss and board games), duck races, a hay bale maze, pumpkins, scarecrow building and seed planting. The activities will be seasonal, and the most current activity list will be updated on Facebook and online. Stebbins Family Farm is open spring, summer and fall.

For more information visit their website. 

Central Alabama

• Blue Ribbon Dairy- Tallassee

Contact: Michaela Sanders

Email address: blueribbondairyllc@gmail.com

Blue Ribbon Dairy activities include a milking demonstration, an explanation of how a cow makes milk, discussion on the process the milk goes through from the farm to the table, the importance of milk, and playing with baby calves (if available). Children will be able to see where milk is pasteurized, bottled and where the ice cream is made. There will be time to enjoy the playground, eat ice cream and bring a sack lunch to have under the barn. Blue Ribbon Dairy is open year-round for field trip groups.

For more information visit their website.

• Hilltop Farm- Deatsville

Contact: JoAnne Hodum

Email address: hilltopfarmdeatsvilleal@gmail.com 

Hilltop Farm is an educational farm run by two retired teachers! They offer hay rides to see cows, learning about beekeeping, hands-on feeding chickens and goats as well as a garden walk. There are several learning stations out at the farm for children to plant a seed or just dig in the dirt! 

For more information visit their Facebook page.

• J. Durbin Farms/Sunshine Farms- Clanton

Contact: Barry Rowe

Email address: durbinpeaches@gmail.com

The u-pick strawberry field opens the first of April each year, and closes in the middle of June (or as long as the berries last). At the field there are wagon rides, picnic tables, snacks, t-shirts, and other novelty items for sale. Peach season includes picking your own orchard fresh peaches off our packing line! Packing house tours and reserved space to bring your own sack lunch are available upon request.

For more information visit their website.

• The Westbrook Farm- Bankston

Contact: Vickie Westbrook

Email address: thewestbrookfarmal@gmail.com

The Westbrook Farm is a family owned seasonal u-pick farm. They have strawberries, blueberries, summer vegetables and pumpkins in fall. The u-pick strawberry field opens in April each year, and closes in the middle of June (or as long as the berries last). They offer educational tours where students can learn about planting, pruning, taking care of plants and harvesting. They also raise Dwarf Nigerian goats and chickens for kids to enjoy!

For more information visit their Facebook.

• Wildly Blessed- Eclectic

Contact: Allyson Andrews

Email address: allyson.andrews@icloud.com

Wildly Blessed raises honeybees, alpacas, beef and miniature dairy cows with a plethora of other critters! You can visit Wildly Blessed to learn more about bee pollination, the different colors of honey and to see what it is really like to be a bee keeper.

For more information visit their Facebook.

South Alabama

• Happi Harvest- New Brockton

Contact: Beth Holland

Email address: holland.beth@aol.com

Happi Harvest offers trips exclusively during the spring and peak flower season. You can expect garden tours and plant education including seed germination, bloom time and harvesting tips. Children will be able to apply what they learned with planted seeds in a take home cup! Your trip might even include a fresh cut vase of flowers as a reminder of your fun day.

For more information visit their Facebook.

• JBW Farm Fresh- Dothan

Contact: Lisa Woodham

Email address: lisa@jbwfarmfresh.com

JBW Farm Fresh offers wagon rides through the farm while explaining how the farm raises their animals and the benefits. The children will also have an opportunity to make ice cream from goat milk!

For more information visit their website.

If you are a teacher and have any questions about field trips for your class with one of our Sweet Grown Alabama members please contact Aisling at aisling@sweetgrownalabama.org.