Do your children (or, let's be honest, you) love those videos of baby goats romping around in pajamas? Or baby goats snuggling with stuffed animals? Or baby goats playing with little pigs?
There's no arguing that the baby goats in those videos are adorable. But baby goats, or kids, are even more adorable in real life. And getting to play with those baby goats yourself? It's just about the most adorable afternoon a person can have.
At Split Creek Farm in Anderson, you can do just that.
Split Creek Farm always has a bunch of kids-sometimes more than 200-who jump, shake, leap and wiggle around the farm. Visitors are welcome to come and see the kids and the mamas, as well as the half dozen loving and patient farm dogs who protect them. It's just about impossible not to fall in love with all the animals. The kids are playful and comical as they spill all over their fields and enclosures. The milking does are curious and gentle, and the guardian and shepherding dogs patiently try to keep it all together.
Located in rolling and leafy Anderson, Split Creek has been a goat dairy farm since 1985. The farm's founder, Evin Evans, died two year ago, but co-owner Pat Bell and her daughter Jessica Bell decided to carry on. We're lucky they did.
The farm began producing its award-winning goat cheeses in 1988. Since then, their cheeses have won numerous national and even international awards. In 2017, Split Creek's feta marinated in olive oil won a Good Food Award from the Good Food Foundation, based in California. And unlike many other food awards, this one judges not just the deliciousness of the cheese, but on the health and well-being of the animals and the practices of the farmer, as well.
It wasn't Split Creek Farm's first time winning a prize for their marinated feta. This particular cheese has been winning prizes for more than a decade.
The farm now produces a full line of dairy products from its goat herd, including raw milk, yogurt and even fudge. All are available in the farm store located right in the middle of the fun. The store also carries products from other local South Carolina farmers, from honeys to jams to folk art.
While the overwhelming adorableness of the kids might be what draws you in to Split Creek Farm the first time, it will be the cheeses, fudge and yogurt that will bring you back.
