I am willing to bet you have not yet heard about Santa Margarita, California unless you live in or near San Luis Obispo County. This is one of those tiny but charming California towns that we absolutely love discovering compared to overcrowded metropolitan travel hubs. But don’t be fooled by its size – there are several cool things to do in Santa Margarita and the best one of those is visiting Giving Tree Family Farm.
Even if there was nothing else to do in Santa Margarita, it would still be worth a 25 minutes drive on HW 101 South of Paso Robles just to visit this farm.
There are two great ways to experience Giving Tree Family Farm: through a guided tour or an educational workshop held on the farm (with a tour included, if you are interested). We started our acquaintance with the farm with the guided family tour but I am definitely hoping to participate in some of their workshops in the future too, such as cheese and soap making.
Giving Tree Family Farm tour is perfect for families with kids or for anybody who wants to experience lots of furry and feathery love, and I mean LOTS! All the farm inhabitants love to great the visitors and I promise, you will have hugs and snuggles memories to last a lifetime.
The tour of Giving Tree Family Farm is roughly 1 hour long. It starts with the goats and alpacas enclosure. You will be able to go into the enclosure and interact with and feed the animals (carrots are provided). We were visiting in May and we were lucky to see lots of baby goats. Those were fine-bred Nubian goats. Several of the mama goats were pregnant so they will give birth a little later in the season. You can cuddle with the babies as much as you want. They will be super happy if you hold them in your arms! If you are interested in baby goats specifically you may want to contact Giving Tree Family Farm to double check the length of the “baby season”.
Alpacas were very curious and were very willing to come to you and investigate. We were visiting after the sheering season and they looked so adorable!
The turkeys were also in the same enclosure and it was fun to watch them interact with each other.
The next stop on the Giving Tree Family Farm Tour is pot belly pigs pen. I have learnt so much about the pigs on this tour! Did you know that pigs are the 4th smartest animal on Earth after humans, apes and dolphins? We were told that these pigs have intelligence of 3-4 year old child – unbelievable, isn’t it? One of the pigs, Tulip, can even do tricks! Save some carrots for the piggies – they love them.
After the animals we proceeded to the birds. First, we fed the chickens and then we had fun with the two baby Emus. May be by the time you come visit Giving Tree Family Farm these Emus will be adults but I bet they will still be friendly because they are being specifically trained to interact with humans. However, if you want to see them at this cute and adorable stage – hurry up and book the tour of the farm ASAP!
When at the end of the tour Tina, the owner of the Giving Tree Family Farm, asks the visitors what farm animal (or bird) they liked the most, a lot of visitors respond… dogs! Yes, the farm has several working dogs who keep the farm tribe safe from predators day and night. And those dogs are super friendly (well, you are not a predator in their book 🙂 ). They love greeting the tourists and follow them on the tour, they love to be pet – so there is overall so much LOVE to share on this farm. And if you are really lucky, a resident cat will also show up and give you a welcoming rub. Even if you come in the worst of moods you are bound to leave Giving Tree Family Farm with a smile.
Check out our complete video review of the Giving Tree Family Farm tour on our YouTube channel (see below). The couple of photos in the article don’t give you the full picture – it is MUCH more fun to observe the animals “in action”! See for yourself:
Things to know before visiting Giving Tree Family Farm
1.You need to book a tour in advance. You cannot just show up since it is a working farm.
2. No dogs are allowed on the farm. Don’t even bring a dog and leave it in the car. The farm guardian dogs are well trained to fight predators and a strange dog IS a predator in their book, no matter what size and/or disposition.
3. The best time to visit the farm is probably spring (think good weather and baby goats). Late summer and early fall may be a little too hot at times, but not always. Late fall and winter will also be good when it doesn’t rain.
4. Wear closed toes shoes, no sandals.
Other things to do in Santa Margarita
As I mentioned at the beginning of the article, there is more than one thing to do in Santa Margarita. First of all, stroll the streets of the town and check out the architecture and houses & gardens decor.
Secondly, definitely stop by the Educated Gardener, an outdoor garden store and nursery landscaped like a whimsical fairy tale land with beautiful plants and interesting sculptures – lots of things to see here. If you like flowers and botanical gardens in general, the Educated Gardener should definitely be on your list of things to in Santa Margarits.
If you like antiques and/or local crafts, check out The Barn Antiques and Unique store.
Finally, when you are hungry in Santa Margarita, I would like to recommend Rosalina restaurant. It offers what I call an “elevated” Mexican cuisine. We visited on a Sunday and had the most delicious Sunday brunch with a variety of dishes from pulled pork to churros with chocolate dipping sauce. And on top of it all, the ambiance of Rosalina is amazing – it is worth a stop just to see the decor!
Are there more things to do in Santa Margarita? Yes, there are! Bookmark this page as I definitely plan to up-date it with more information in the future.
Where to stay near Santa Margarita
Santa Margarita is located right off HW 101 in between Paso Robles and San Luis Obispo. It is closer to the latter than the former so if you are thinking of staying in the area, check out my article about family friendly and totally cool hotels in San Luis Obispo.
If you found this article about things to do in Santa Margarita and Giving Tree Family Farm useful, please, share it with others as it may help them with their travel plans.
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