come by anytime!
VISIT THE FARM
Welcome to the Beautiful Outdoors!
The sunshine is a great sanitizer, and we believe that fresh air in a beautiful environment of stewarded land and animals is a great way to relate to one another. Please enjoy our farm lanes as a great hike in Saxapahaw along the Haw River. (No visiting dogs on the farm, please!)
Open-Door Policy
We love visitors, but please respect our work. Reverence Farms has an open-door policy. You are to whom we are accountable, and we seek to be accessible. For your safety and the well-being of our livestock and staff, we have a few ground rules.
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To be a working farm with a mission, we have to be a functional farm and business first. We cannot spend time with each visitor. Our dedicated staff have packed days, and while they are happy to point you in the right direction, we don’t expect them to be tour guides, so please be respectful of their time. Minutes count a lot on a livestock farm.
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NO PETS! We really can’t emphasize this enough. We have more than a dozen dogs on the farm, and most of them are working — and the ones that aren’t still take their jobs seriously. Do not bring a dog, even in a car. It’s disruptive.
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Stay on Gravel Roads with vehicles. You may walk on the Gravel Roads or the Farm Roads. Do not drive on dirt roads. You can get stuck. We can’t pull you out.
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Leave gates as you found them. (Many are open on purpose.)
Enjoy a beautiful Farm Hike
Sunshine and fresh air are not only medicine, but daily essentials. We absolutely love this land that we live and work on, and we are happy to to welcome you to share in this experience with us. We do ask that you respect and love this land in the same way that we do.
Please stick to the Gravel & Farm Roads
On your map, you’ll want to stick to the Gravel & Farm Roads outlined in grey and yellow. This gives you a great view of our land and our animals without interfering with the normal daily operations of the farm.
Please do not touch any fencing or enter the paddocks with the animals. We use low-voltage electric fencing wire to keep the animals in their daily paddocks. The farm roads are open (be aware of tractors and ATVs) and will for the most part allow you to walk a loop without needing to open/close a gate. Please leave any gates as you found them.
Hours: Sunrise to Sunset,
7 days a week
Farms operate 7 days a week, 365 days a year, and you’re welcome to come and visit any day of the week during daylight hours. Enjoy the sunshine and fresh air, and take your time, but please make sure that your hike is done and you’re back to your car by sunset.
No need to call ahead of time. Just show up and leave at your leisure.
Please leave your dogs at home
We absolutely love dogs, but we cannot risk having outside dogs visiting the farm. We’ve got lots of dogs who work on the farm for herding and protecting the other animals from predators. We also have many animals who are easily spooked by unfamiliar dogs — in addition to our farm dogs, we have cows, horses, chickens, sheep, ducks and geese that live at the farm, and so we implore you to leave your dogs at home.
Enjoy the freedom of a self-guided Farm Tour
While visiting the farm, it’s very likely that you’ll come across farmers who are busy doing the many tasks that operating a 400 acre farm requires. Feel free to smile and wave, and we’re more than happy to see you, but our farmers are not tour guides, and please do not engage them in conversation, as they need to keep going for the sake of the farm and the animals.
Please enter from Haw River Ranch Rd and park near the Farm Map
When you arrive, please arrive at 1568 Haw River Ranch Rd, and park in the small parking lot near the Reverence Farms map to your left as soon as you enter the farm. Do not park up near the dairy barns or anywhere else. These other roads and parking areas are essential for farm vehicles to move around the farm.
Most importantly...Have Fun!
We love our farm, and our animals, and we hope that you do as well. Visiting Reverence Farms is a fantastic opportunity to get outside, enjoy fresh country air and to get some healthy exercise. We respect our land, the plants and the animals who live here, and we ask that you do the same. Please adhere to the principle of “leave no trace”. Do not litter our farm with empty cans, bottles, cigarette butts or any other refuse.
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Do make sure you bring appropriate walking shoes, and a sense of wonder. This land is beautiful and revered. We ask you to help us keep it that way.
How to Love a Farm: written by a friend of Reverence Farms
It is such a rare privilege and a joy to live in close proximity to a working farm where visits are free of charge and without the restriction of time limits. This place is Reverence Farms, situated on upwards of 400 acres of rich, organic, beautiful North Carolina land. The stewards of this place have created a precious relationship between humans, land, and animals where every living thing is treated with reverence. It is something extraordinary to experience a working farm. Once it takes hold of you, you will fall deeply in love with it. Yes, you can love a farm! When you visit Reverence Farms take notice of the farmers, stewards, and caretakers going about the business of their day. Farm work is hard and demanding, and this work doesn’t take a break for the ice and snow of winter, nor for the heavy rains of spring, nor for the brutal heat of a southern summer.
There are many “moving parts” all working together at once, which requires that its stewards be laser-focused and free of distraction. Nothing they do is inconsequential. When you love a farm, you honor every aspect of the vital work taking place around you. You can explore and learn, but move about with care so as not to disturb the flow, and make a great effort to refrain from disruptions such as unnecessary conversations with the working humans.
Along with being a place of busy-ness, Reverence Farms is also a home and a life to its animals. This is where the animals live, eat, sleep, give birth, and raise their babies. When you love a farm you respect animals and their space. We must never feed them, nor poke and grab at them, nor talk loudly around them. To love a farm you must build trust with the animals. Keep a safe distance, but talk to them and coo at them as you would a child. Make eye contact with them; they are very curious about you and they want to know you. Above all, they want to feel safe when you visit. Give the animals time to get used to your presence — your movements, your voice, even your smell. Once trust is established the animals will reward you with their friendship — even their affection!
Farms are wonderful places for children of every age, including infants. Teach children how to love a farm by practicing courtesy towards its stewards and respect towards its animals. Talk with your children throughout your visit, and share their awe for every detail. Note how big and kind are the eyes of a cow; how lovable are the ears of a pig; which animals are skittish and need your extra-gentleness. Talk about the farm vehicles, tools, and equipment that you see. Follow up your visit with a new book or educational program about farm life. When you love a farm you will want to return again and again. A lifelong relationship can blossom, revealing a deep well of compassion within you, respect for all living things, and gratitude for the abundance of gifts that bless your table.
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-Katie