EAT. PLAY. GO. horsin' around at Dutch Creek Animal Farm

COLUMBIA COUNTY, Ga. - One local farm in East Central Georgia is opening its barn doors, connecting families with animals and showing kids an appreciation for them.

Rose the bunny is one of the many animals you can hold and pet out at Dutch Creek Animal Farm in Appling. In the distance, you'll hear chickens clucking. It's one of the only sounds you'll hear out there.

"Yeah, I just like to hang out. It's peaceful," farm owner Michelle Humphries said. The farm has been one of her favorite places to be over the last nine years. "Oh, it makes me happy. And it calms me, you know. Not that I'm not a calm individual, but it just, it's just peaceful."

She wants to share that peace with visitors, with field trips and tours at the farm.

Her daughter Arlene helps out with the pigs, goats, chickens and horses. 

"Instead of just petting them over the fence or through a cage or, they can get an up front, close and personal experience. You can pet just about any animal," Humphries said.

Visitors can get up close and personal and brush any of Humphries pigs. "That's part of the fun, is finding them," she said, as we looked for a pig to brush.

Humphries is educating kids while letting them pet, hold and feed the animals. "By the time they leave, they are all about the chickens and all about any of the animals and sometimes the horses, because, you know, they're big and sometimes they can be intimidating," she said.

She teaches you what the animals eat and the best ways to pet them so you don't get kicked or scratched.

"They eat, right over here I give them their grain in the morning and then right here's their grain, and then I give them hay. They should always have a supply of hay," Humphries explained about her bunnies.

You can tour the farm on Fridays and Saturdays, but be sure to make an appointment beforehand.

Humphries said they plan to add a highland cow to their farm in November.