Monmouth County, NJ has lots of great activities for toddlers, including some rather unique experiences! One of my fave on this list would be the Edel Haus Alpaca Farm and the Allaire Lavender Farm!
Edel House/Allaire Lavender Farm is an easy drive into the greenery of Wall Township and is home to a whole bunch of adorable alpacas of all colors and sizes. My toddler kept calling them "cows" until we practiced our new word, which he shortened to "paca."
It was a beautiful and unseasonably warm day when my mom, my son and I headed to the farm expecting only to love on some alpacas but were surprised to be able to FEED them-- along with some other barnyard friends-- CHICKENS and GOATS!
It isn't clear where to go once you park but we saw a gentleman outside in front of a barn and went there first. He instructed us that for $7 we can have a small tub of feed for the alpacas and if they weren't hungry, we could trade it back for goat and chicken feed. I thought that sounded fantastic! We bought our alpaca feed and to our surprise, he let us right in the gate to interact with them.
The gentlemen said that the alpacas LOVE little kids. My little guy is a big animal lover, but he was nervous to be around the alpacas which were my height and some even a bit taller (I'm short lol!). After being fed by other families all morning most of the alpacas weren't very hungry-- so I would suggest that you go earlier in the day to feed them. We did, however, get the littlest one to eat out of our feed cup. Alpaca hairstyles are pretty hilarious-- and we joked around about how their hipster hair probably kept them from seeing anyone very well.
I was surprised at how well behaved they were around us. They didn't seem to mind that we were there. We were in the pen with one other family and they didn't mind a pet here and there and the compliments we were giving them on their hairstyles.
Since the alpacas didn't eat much feed, we headed back to the gent in charge to exchange for chicken/goat feed. We LOVED the chickens! There were some really big ones in the barn and a really gorgeous rooster! They were more than happy to eat from our cup and interact with us! My little guy wasn't comfortable standing among them but was happy for me to hold him as I fed the chickens and he watched. We went to leave to go to the goats, but he asked to come back to the chickens one more time, which we did.
After leaving the chickens, we headed over to the goats who COULDN'T WAIT to eat our remaining feed. You greet the goats through the fence which is definitely for the best because they were more aggressive than the alpacas and chickens. The goats jump right up and battle each other for your food. While feeding them, we were able to pet their noses. They will quickly finish your feed so it was good we went to the chickens first!
Walking back to the car we noticed that there was another little barn with more alpacas so we walked up the parking lot to that area. Turns out that Edel Haus sold part of the farm to the gentleman on the other side which is Allaire Lavender Farm so the barnyard friends we just met were part of Allaire! We were happy to visit them both and made our way to the Edel Haus section.
We just made a donation here to go visit those alpacas. We found a whole herd up in their little shelter! There were two other families up here when we went and we were warned that the big alpaca spit at them so we happily avoided him. We didn't want to experience alpaca spit so if the big guy wants a little space-- we are happy to give it to him! We took some pics and videos with the alpaca crew (these guys had better haircuts and you could see their eyes more easily) and then mom and I were ready for iced coffee so we made the trek back to the car.
Before leaving, we purchased a little stuffed alpaca made from alpaca fur (alpacas are sheared seasonally and their coats make super warm clothing! Alpacas aren't harmed in the shearing-- they usually need the haircuts!) so my 1 year old could have his very own "paca." We weren't there for very long, but felt like we had a lovely time and experienced even more than we expected.
This was a great day trip for my toddler- but also for mom and I. We will probably go back to visit next year-- unless we win the powerball and buy our own alpaca farm. They are pretty gosh darn cute.