(This review is from our visit in October 2017) This was our first time to Silverman's Farm, but it won't be the last. We were looking for something like the lovely experience we had last summer at Alstede Farm in New Jersey, but closer to our family in CT. Finding this farm in google maps, we came across a truly mixed bag of reviews, with negative ones claiming everything from this being a tourist trap to rude staff to overly expensive everything. We were pleasantly surprised to find the negatives disproven by a really lovely fall day spent outside.

Yes, you have to pay for the animal feeding part, but it was worth it for the large, well spaced, clean animal section. With bunnies, llamas, sheep, emu, goats from all around the world, and even buffalo, our daughter loved it! We were also pleased that despite the Native American section having tipis -Not the housing of northeast tribes - they included signs making clear that these are not dwellings typical of the northeast! They had cultural items from tribes across the country.

After feeding animals, our daughter played in the smallish playground area. If your child is 5yrs or older, it is probably not enough to entertain them. But our almost 4yr old liked the slides, maze, and Thomas the train. About 30yards away is also a Duck Derby where up to i think 6 or 7 kids pump water to race ducks down a pipe- we all liked that one. And with some maintenance to fix the one leaky pipe, and the one just plain broken, it would be perfect.

After the animals and kids play side, we crossed the street at the crossing guard, and our daughter jumped around in the Cereal Bowl - a large hay bale enclosure, maybe ten yards by 15yards, filled with dried corn kernels. She loved it, and it was like a giant sand box only we didn't have to brush sand out of her hair all night, just a few kernels of corn.

After the corn pit, we were all starving and forced to overpay for food, because all that was available were a few food trucks - hence the one missing star. $4.50 for a microscopic slice of pizza is insane - and we live in NYC, so we know overpriced pizza! The meatball sandwiches were a far better bang for your buck, but overall the food options left a lot to be desired.

We then went up to do some apple picking and it was all we could have hoped for And more! A lovely, bumpy tractor up to hillside orchards, encouragement to eat apples as we picked, and lots of other families, in a rainbow of diverse ethnicities and races, all wandering among the autumn trees. On our way out we picked up a pumpkin, you don't pick it from the field yourself, but that was ok.

We wish the train rides had been running for kids, but maybe next season. Over all we really enjoyed ourselves. Between the cost of the animals feeding part $16 (plus about $1.50 in corn to feed them), and the apples bag (for kids under 4, as ours is, you don't have to pay for them to pick) of $19, and the hefty cost of the so-so quality food trucks (about $15), it was NOT a cheap adventure. But considering you could spend most of the day there, bring packed food from home, and that the cost includes a crazy amount of yummy apples, we felt it was worth it.