5 Local Farms You Can Tour

Glenview Park District maintains and continues to grow programs at the 18.6-acre Wagner Farm that was run by members of the Wagner family upon their arrival from Germany in the 1850s. As one of the last remaining dairy farms in Cook County, its focus is educating the community on the history and importance of farming.

Visitors to the farm can milk a cow, feed chickens, attend a barn dance, take a hayride, watch corn being planted and tour a restored farmhouse. In addition to the cows and chickens, the farm has draft horses and pigs.

One of the newer additions is the Historic Wagner Farm Heritage Center, which houses a two-story interactive silo exhibit that allows kids to use a crank to deliver corn to the top, learn about the history of silos, and build miniature silos using brick, wood and metal customized building blocks. You’ll also find interactive exhibits that educate visitors about farming from the early 20th century through the present, a 1930s-reminiscent grocery store and a museum store full of souvenirs. No trip through history is complete without an old fashioned soda fountain, so kids will love the Homer’s Ice Cream hand-dipped cones, sundaes, floats and shakes.

For those looking for a more hands-on experience, the park district offers programs where kids can wake up with the roosters to help with farm chores, tend to the animals and gardens at dinner time, and learn about and help groom the draft horses.

1510 Wagner Rd., Glenview
847-657-1506
Cost: Free (except for the hands-on experiences paid for through the park district website)
Hours: Monday-Saturday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sunday, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.
Online: glenviewparks.org

Photo: John V via Yelp