Hiking with Goats

Our family loves animal encounters and many of our favorite memories have been spent visiting farms, nature centers, wildlife parks, and zoos learning more about animals.

Recently, we took a Day Trip to Atchison, Kansas, where we visited Providence Hill Farm. Christy Harris, the owner and creative mind behind the business, believes that life is better with goats and she loves sharing unique goat experiences with visitors to the farm. On our particular visit we held baby goats, pet the goats, tried her fresh-made goat cheese, and best of all... went hiking with goats!

Providence Hill Goat Farm is home to many breeds including Nigerian Dwarf goats, mini sable goats, LaMancha (Spanish) goats, and Nubian cross, all an assortment of dairy breeds. Christy Harris, a native of Alaska who now calls Kansas home, is passionate about all things natural, and her love of learning, creating, animals, and nature led her to goat farming and making products from their milk - including cheese, soap, and candles. 

Providence Hill was created eighteen years ago with creativity and learning in mind. Christy offers tours, classes, and outings for all ages and occasions, and group sizes. Her favorite thing is to create a program specifically with your group in mind. 

We began our visit holding baby goats - one of the highlights of our trip to the farm.

Goats have been domesticated for about 6,000 years and they love connecting with and bonding with people. We found that they often rubbed their heads against us looking for a bond. If a goat is ornery, it is probably missing a human connection from its shepherd. In fact, Christy says that their milk production increases when goats have a positive human connection.

My girls loved meeting and petting the goats. Christy offers a variety of goat programs including meet and greets, yoga, baby goat play, animal-assisted therapy, and goat university - great for future goat shepherds.

People often think of goats living on farms with lots of grass, but they actually love living in the woods. Christy's goats browse to eat, meaning they will eat leaves, twigs, and brush on her property - in addition to the alfalfa, grain, grass, and hay that she feeds them. When she purchased her property almost twenty years ago, the back lot was overgrown with brush. Now the goats graze in the forest so much, they've created paths for visitors to experience the Enchanted Goat Forest.

Hiking with goats was our favorite experience on the farm. We hiked with the goats as they trailed behind, experiencing their home, discovering its special spots (including the bowtie tree), and watching as they ate from branches. The girls pet the goats as we hiked and they kept coming back for more.

Christy sells soaps, lotions, candles, and cheese from the farm and also offers a variety of DIY classes for those wanting to learn to make artisan cheeses including mozzarella, feta, and chevre, as well as other goatmilk based products. Her cheeses are sold locally on a made-to-order basis. She even teaches cheese decorating workshops with edible flowers for those who want to take artisan cheese making to a whole new level. Her expertise has even been featured in the book Mastering Artisan Cheesemaking.

We sampled some of her goat cheese and found it to be flavorful and delicious. Christy shared the process and explained that goat milk has a smaller molecular structure than that of a cow and a broader nutrient profile. In fact, worldwide more people drink goat milk than cow's milk. The United States is one of the few places where cow milk surpasses goat milk consumption. In addition to nutritional health benefits, nutrients also benefit the skin when used in soap or lotion. 

Everything produced at Providence Hill is done consciously - seeking the best methods for the environment, the animals, and humans. Christy takes pride in knowing that she is "connected to the antiquity of humanity" doing what people have done for thousands of years in the same ways.

To learn more about Christy's techniques, you can check out this book featuring her cheese-making recipe along with many other artisans.

Providence Hill Farm is a hidden gem in Atchison, Kansas offering truly unforgettable experiences as visitors learn that life truly is better with goats.