A dear friend invited my three year old son and me to the farm since she had a Groupon for pony rides. It was utterly so kind of my friend and I'm grateful for her friendship. She's always so generous like this. The kids had fun, however, the farm does not abide by safety rules. My son and my friend's daughter climbed on their log fence to watch the horses and got shocked by their ELECTRIC FENCE, meant to keep large horses in. The electric wire was a thin braid of wire somewhat hidden behind the log fence. I read on the Internet that by law, you are supposed to post warning signs every 50 yards, however, there was no such signage. Also, the main wire had been pulled from a mobile home across a grassy picnicking area and plugged in to the unit. It seems like reckless negligence on the owners' part. Please keep your toddlers safe and don't let your guard down because of its idyllic setting, as I did. I don't know anything about the American countryside and what types of stuff they use. Electric fences never even crossed my mind. Needless to say, my son was traumatized and in pain. I've never seen him cry like he did and look at me with such an expression of helplessness as I looked him helplessly back. As a mother, my heart wrenched. I wish I had known of such things as electric fences or at least been provided a verbal notice by the farm. I am 38 weeks pregnant and couldn't get to my son in time as I heard him being zapped and crying. It happened yesterday and I've been unable to sleep or rest since it happened. Please be safe if you do go there and take care of your kiddos. read more

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. read more

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 :) ** read more

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. read more

My experience at Tashunka has been so lovely and I look forward to returning sometime soon! I admired how much consideration the petting farm and Kathy especially, had towards the animals in their care. From providing ample space to roam, making sure the animals are well socialized so the tour experience is fun for both visitors and animals while respecting the animals comfort. I have never visited a petting farm with animals so happy and content to receive petting and attention, and animals with such unique and distinct, lovable personalities! It's worth mentioning one of the examples where Tashunka has demonstrated prioritizing animal comfort over profit is choosing not to milk their cow, realizing the chance that employees might overlook her looking for even just a day would bring her pain. Our guide Kathy and her friendly demeanor and fondness towards the animals provided for a genuinely wholesome experience at the farm! If you visit, make sure your children treat the animals kindly -- no pulling or tugging or attempted riding and to stay off the fences as some reviews have suspected they are electric (I do not know). But this is a farm, and you are a guest! Visit politely and I hope you have lots of fun! read more

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. read more

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. read more

I bought a groupon for this place. The times for scheduling a visit were very inflexible. My groupon expired on August 14th and I started planning an August visit around mid July. I scheduled an appointment in early August only to have it cancelled the night before. Then when I tried to re-book there were no available appointments for the rest of August. She said she'd honor my groupon to come back in September but by that time my oldest would be in school and the times just weren't convenient. I requested a refund and Groupon was kind enough to take care of it. read more

Buyer Beware!!! We did a groupon special and schedule way in advance by email. Showed up on the day and the person who was doing the tours wasn't even there. We drove an hour there to vist the farm with a 2 and 3 year old there is no way we were just going to hope back in the car. We asked if we could look around since we made the trip out there and was told it was ok. Fast foward that the person who was suppose to give us the tour emailed me saying that as far as she considered our groupon was fulfilled because we looked around. She didn't even say she was sorry that she goofed up. I contacted groupon to get a refund. read more

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. read more

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. read more

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. read more

Beware when buying a living social or groupon deal. I made a appointment way in advance to come take my son there. I had a friend meet us there with her kid and when we get there the person I had the appointment with wasn't to be found. No one even had her contact info. We drove almost an hour getting there and anyone with young kid knows they aren't going to get back in the car. So we asked if we could look around and was told yes. We walked around for an hour and I emailed the lady when I got home. I send the lady an email and she basically said that the voucher was considered completed since we looked around (I had asked groupon to give me a refund). She did not apologize at all for the mix up. I even sent her the orignal email. So I would beware making an appointment with this place or at least double check before making the trip. read more

I took my 3 sons to the Tashunka Farms petting farm on a Tuesday morning in August. We also used a Groupon coupon. I would have never known about the place without the Groupon which is why I love that coupon site. It turns you onto places you've never been to. Our experience at the farm was confusing & very underwhelming. I agree that there is nowhere or nobody to check in with upon arrival. I happen to run into someone coming out of a barn who I "checked in" with. I handed her my Groupon, she told me to go wait up by the goats & then she walked off. We walked up by the goats - it was this rather small grassy area squeezed in between the goats & a barn - a waiting area, I assumed. There were about 10 other people waiting as well. There were a few hens running around the area (they did not want to be touched). I had originally thought that we would just be able to wander around the beautiful farm, petting different animals but now I'm thinking that we were going to be led around as a group. We were escorted into the goat enclosure by another employee and were given a cup of goat grain to feed them. That was kind of fun for about 5 minutes. Then we step outside of the goat enclosure and we just kind of stood around waiting for our petting farm tour experience to take place. There was 1 bunny in a gated pen and 2 tiny chicks in a pen that you were able to pet, kind of, because the height of the pen made it difficult for children to bend over to pet them and my youngest is 7years old! The woman who took my coupon came walking up with a horse & then a pony which we all got to pet for a couple of minutes. She then brought a chinchilla out in his little dust bath container. That was cute but the chinchilla seemed a little freaked out so she took him back to his home near the barn. Then the woman literally says "thanks for coming" and some folks started taking off to the parking lot. I looked at my sons and they were as confused as I was. That was it? We were still waiting for someone to come get us to begin our tour. It was literally about 15 minutes from beginning to end and since there were so many other people waiting, your actual time of petting the animal being shown was maybe 1 minute! I will say that the area was beautiful. I had never been to that part of Redmond so I was pleasantly surprised with the beautiful surroundings. We had driven 1/2 hour from Renton to go to Tashunka Farms and were very excited to go. I was so extremely disappointed. I would NOT recommend this place to anyone. I think it was a waste of time and money, even though I did get a super good deal on my Groupon. I love the idea of a petting farm and I love animals but this place seemed poorly organized and well, totally boring. read more