Kid around at an Arizona goat yoga class
Unique experience is one way rural Mesa region has embraced new ‘agritainment’
MESA, ARIZONA— Child’s pose in yoga class is a lot more fun with a kid on your back. Kid as in baby goat, that is. Four-hoof massages were on the house at Arizona Goat Yoga, held in a large paddock at Welcome Home Ranch near the Phoenix suburb of Mesa.
Decked out in tutus and T-shirts, a dozen black-and-white Nigerian Dwarf goats treated table pose as an invitation to hop aboard.
Treats provided added incentive for Schmoo, Grover, Ellen and the other yoga goats to trot back-to-back around a circle of kneeling class participants. Or they just did their own goat thing, being adorable and munching grass.
“It’s more about the goats than the yoga,” admitted Sarah Williams, who leads the $12 classes, held three times a week. We’re easily distracted by the selfie-worthy critters raised by her “goat whisperer” business partner and long-time pal, April Gould.
Yes, everybody frets at first about goat poop. Just rub it in, Williams said.
The goats love the attention. Older critters graduate to become cuddlers. Gould said there are “definite therapeutic benefits” to stress-busting goat yoga.
Canadian-born Phoenix-area residents Sarah Burnett, 19, and her brother Shane, 21, who has autism, said they found it fun and relaxing.
Goat yoga meshes nicely with a growing focus on agritainment in this area of Arizona, including the dozen stops along Mesa’s Fresh Foodie Trail.
What’s agritainment? It’s an offshoot of the growing agritourism trend blending entertainment and rural tourism.
There are many day-tripping options close to the city, from locally grown and produced wine and olive oil, to field-side cooking classes.
More than one local I met claims to have coined the term agritainment, but no matter who has dibs on it, it’s catching on.
“It’s where we marry agriculture and tourism together to give people an experience, and its grown phenomenally across the country,” said Mark Schnepf of Schnepf Farms, a fourth-generation organic peach grower in Olive Creek, near Phoenix.
The business he runs with wife Carrie Schnepf includes a popular wedding venue, you-pick fields and orchards, a café and a bakery. Vintage farm buildings make it feel like an open-air museum.
There’s also a new glamping site, with several updated and air-conditioned vintage aluminum trailers for rent, starting at $125 a night.
Just down the road, Perry Rea runs Queen Creek Olive Mill.
The London, Ont., native wears a “know your farmer” apron to talk enthusiastically about sustainable farming and the health benefits of extra virgin olive oil, grown and pressed here at Arizona’s only family-owned olive mill.
We took a tour, learned how to taste and appreciate extra virgin olive oil — it’s similar to wine tasting — and sampled flavoured oils, tapenades, olives and vinegars in the large retail area.
Daughter Joey Rea is responsible for the OliveSpa bath and body product line, all made with essential oils.
The restaurant serves an excellent brunch inside or overlooking the olive trees (we had olive oil waffles), along with Superstition Coffee, roasted on site.
Colourful, used, burlap coffee sacks are on sale for $10 or $20. They make cool, oversized rustic pillows.
Closer to Phoenix, you can’t get much more farm-to-table than a cooking lesson at The Farm at South Mountain.
Melanie Albert led an “intuitive cooking class” under the trees, teaching us to massage our homemade lemon and olive oil dressing into shredded black kale to break down tough fibres.
If you want someone else to fix your meal, there are three restaurants on site, including upscale Quiessence.
In Gilbert, just outside Phoenix, I met Joe Johnston, whose job title is “Visionary.”
It’s an apt description for the founder of Agritopia, a city-meets-rural “agri-hood.”
Homes on narrow, walkable streets surround a 4.5-hectare certified organic farm. Business manager William Johnston calls this “an ideal village life” community.
Barnone, housed in a repurposed Quonset hut, holds a dozen businesses run by local makers, including Garage East microwinery and nanobrewery 12West Brewing. Grab a thin-crust pizza at Fire & Brimstone or walk across the common to Joe’s Farm Grill for surprisingly good or- ganic diner-inspired eats. The fried green beans breaded in rosemarydill Panko and tossed in fresh garlic sauce are addictive. So are the cupcakes from The Coffee Shop.
“It’s a back-to-the-earth concept,” explained Johnston, who says the emphasis is on keeping everything “hyper-local.” Like his dad, Johnston and his family live at Agritopia.
Visitors can easily spend a lazy afternoon here. Some homeowners rent their places on Airbnb if you want to live like an Agritopian for a few days. Linda Barnard was hosted by Visit Phoenix and Visit Mesa, which did not review or approve this story.