Tashunka Farm

Me and my friends went on a petting tour of the farm after I found it on Groupon. I had to schedule the tour beforehand via email, which was smooth and very fast (I got a response within 2 hours from my email, and was able to reserve a time for the same weekend).
In the «outdoors» part of the tour we got to pet and feed three goats, a mini cow and a cutest little pig. Then we washed our hands (which I really appreciated after feeding a pig!) and proceeded to the indoors part: holding and petting a rabbit, and petting a chinchilla and watching her bath in volcanic ash! I imagine the chinchilla always steals the spotlight from the rabbits, but I absolutely loved all of them.

Absolutely fantastic! I wanted to learn how to ride, and having never ever been around horses, was a little concerned. I did try another local facility, but after 2 lessons at the other place, I got extremely frustrated.
However, the instructions here are AMAZING. The patient and knowledgeable instructors helped me develop confidence and skill that me, as a novice, could have only imagined. And I plan to continue developing my riding abilities here, at Tashunka.

I would not recommend purchasing the Groupon for Tashunka Farm. I purchased the Groupon myself and later noticed that in order to redeem it you are required to make a reservation via email. After emailing (3 times) to make a reservation and not hearing back, sadly my Groupon expired and I am left holding the «actual» value I paid. I then proceeded to contact them to see how to go about redeeming an expired Groupon and still they did not get back to me. If you read the website for the farm you will see that they do not really have that many animals at all and charge $ 10/​person for an hour long tour… really? $ 10/​person. That seems like a lot to see a couple of goats, a bunny and a chinchilla to me. I am disappointed that the person never got back to me and disappointed that I was unable to use my voucher but after reading other reviews it really doesn’t sound exciting enough to be worth the bother anyhow. Spend a couple dollars more and take the kids to Remlinger Farm instead or the zoo, don’t waste your time on this place.

This is a cozy little farm. Don’t expect a large farm with lots of things to do but this was good enough for an hour visit. The attraction is that it’s really not that organized. Just a set of people who love animals. The people who showed us around we’re very friendly. There was more than enough time to roam and interact with chicken, horses, rabbits, goats, a donkey and some other animals with lots of explanations given. It was raining but most of the activity is in a large barn, so that made the visit on a rainy day better than expected.

I purchased a Living Social Voucher to Tashunka Petting Farm and am glad I did as I probably wouldn’t have heard of it any other way.
There wasn’t a sign for the farm from the road so I passed it when trying to find it, but if you look for the address as you are driving along, you won’t miss it. My GPS had me turn incorrectly on a road before the farm as well (just an FYI).
Once we found it we drove down a gravel driveway and parked in an unmarked area in the front. There was one dog, he didn’t park or bother us, just came up to check us out and say hello and then went and laid down. We were not greeted immediately; however, it turns out Kathy was out giving another tour before us. I wasn’t worried though, I figured if we hung out by the cars someone would come out to find us. In reading the other reviews I don’t know what people expected. It’s a FARM! Not a zoo! I’m pretty sure Kathy was the only employee there (that I saw) so she obviously can’t be everywhere at once.
Kathy finished her tour and grabbed us (3 moms with 3 babies). First we went to see the goats which were super friendly. We got to feed them and pet them. Even our infants pet them without concern or fear. We then went into the chicken coup and got to see a variety of eggs. We didn’t pet the chickens but I wasn’t bummed about that. We then walked past the horses in their pastures and got to pet a cow. She was pretty, not like the ones I remember from 4H when I was a kid. Next we walked to the «office» and on the way there was a young gal grooming her horse and getting it ready for showing at an upcoming fair. She was super kind and let us pet her horse and watch her for a while. We then went into the office and met «Chuck» and «Norris» the rabbits and got to hold them. We then got to pet the softest chinchilla and ended the tour petting the miniature horse.
Kathy was a great guide. Super friendly and knowledgeable. She shared stories with us and answered our questions.
While I’m sure there are petting zoos and such that have a wider variety of animals, it was a lot of fun to actually come out to the farm and get to see these animals. It was a lovely environment and the animals were a hit. I imagine any child would have had a lot of fun here and definitely plan to come back when mine is a bit older.

I’m not sure what the deal is with the negative reviews. After reading those, we weren’t sure what to expect but throughout the visit, my friend and I kept commenting to each other «what the heck is up with those reviews? This is awesome.» Our guide, Kathy, was so informative and she was great with our kids (age 3). They got to feed goats, hold bunnies and pet a super soft chinchilla. Brushing the miniature horse’s mane was so fun for them also and they enjoyed walking through the mud to go visit the mini cow.
After showing up half an hour late due to traffic and horribly bad weather, we expected our tour to be cut short or possibly even cancelled but Kathy spent over an hour with us and we never felt rushed. My friend was asking about horseback riding lessons and Kathy gave her lots of information about RA, the owner/​instructor, but was never pushy about it.
My friend’s daughter was recently in a bad accident and is on very restrictive instructions from her doctor for a few more weeks. She can’t do «normal» kid activities for risk of further injury. This was a wonderful, low-​risk and fun experience for her and no visit to a farm would be complete without a face plant in the mud so my son filled that requirement for us. It was a lovely time and we felt so spoiled having a private visit with all the animals.

What a waste of time this was, I’m glad I only paid $ 10 for the 4 of us.
As the other reviewers stated, there is no office, there’s a gate you have to get out of the car and open when you get there and you’re greeted by barking dogs. Not a problem for me, but if you’re a person who is afraid of strange dogs, this might be a problem for you.
There is no signage for the office, but if you’re lucky someone will come out to the parking lot to greet you. In our case, this was the tour guide, and that’s when the tour would have begun but we all needed bathroom breaks after an hour drive from Snohomish.
We wandered to the goat pen and got to feed some goats, 3 of them. The girl who was our guide was knowledgeable about the animals but didn’t offer up a lot of information unless you asked.
Then we moved on to the chicken coop, where she went in alone and came out with some eggs for us to see. There were chickens around us, but they didn’t allow anyone to touch them. Again, she knew stuff about the chickens, but most of the knowledge was shared in response to questions.
From there it was off to the large barn/​riding arena where we were allowed to pet a very smelly horse, and the donkey named Paco. Then we went over to the office area (also in the barn) and she brought out first a rabbit, then a chinchilla for us to pet.
Around this time another group of people showed up 20 minutes early for their allotted time slot so our guide looked at us, thanked us, and that’s when I realized that was it, that was all we were going to get. From parking in the lot, hitting the restrooms, starting our tour, and then the next group showing up, was less than 30 minutes.
We were given no free rein of the place, no actual exhibits, nothing. The entire time we were there there was a girl riding her horse in the ring and her father was sitting on a bench, watching us all go from place to place. It felt awkward, like we were intruding on their time.
The day was salvaged by a trip to the Root Beer Store (in Redmond) and a trip to Marymoor. But doing this excursion as a stand alone day trip for the kids would be a complete waste of your time, even for the cheap price of admission.

We came out for a nice afternoon at this petting farm recently. Upon arrival, yes, the signage wasn’t great — but the staff was extremely welcoming and knowledgable so we weren’t at a loss for long.
I was overall satisfied with the trip out to Tashunka Farms. What a treat for the younger kids to learn about so many different animals from such a close perspective! The mini cow and donkey were especially interesting and fun to see — definitely something you don’t get to see every day.
I’d recommend this day trip for groups large and small and all ages as well. Just make sure you’ve got enough time to spend and plenty of questions to ask the staff. They are more than willing to spend a little extra time with you to ensure you get your money’s worth.

I LOVE online deals (groupon, livingsocial, tippr). All those sites give me a great opportunity to try new things and go to places I’ve never heard of AND for a reasonable price! My sister and nephew were in town, so I thought tippr’s voucher for $ 15 ($ 30 worth) Petting Zoo Family Pass for Tashunka Farms would be an awesome mini field trip.
A few days after purchasing the voucher, I received a personal email from R-​A Mazzola (the owner) thanking me for purchasing the tippr voucher and also provided information about the farm and the petting zoo hours (11am-​2pm). Nice personal touch!
When we arrived to the farm, we were a little confused because there wasn’t an office to check into or any type of welcome sign. So we sat in the car and waited until we saw someone come out. They were two young girls and they seemed a little confused to why we were there too… but when I mentioned the tippr voucher for the petting zoo, they knew exactly what I was talking about.
We got to meet, pet and feed…
–fainting goats
–miniature horse
–hens
-«Chuck» the rabbit
-«Shakira» the chinchilla
-«Paco» the donkey
and «Taffy» the horse
It was SOO much fun coming face to face with all those animals and definitely worth the drive out to Redmond. The girls were VERY knowledgeable about all the
animals and very accommodating to the little 2 year old that we had with us.
**Wear comfortable shoes/​clothes you don’t mind getting some dirt or animal doo on :) **