Peden Farm

Peden Farm is a family farm on North Maple Grove Road, northwest of Bloomington. The Peden family has farmed here since 1941, and the farm is best known as the home of the Children’s Farm Festival, a Monroe County tradition that has brought area schoolchildren out to a working farm since the early 1950s.

The festival lets children, many of them preschoolers and elementary students, do what a classroom can’t: pet the farm animals, step inside a barn, watch a blacksmith, and taste homemade butter, maple syrup, apple cider and popcorn. Firefighters and police officers visit too, and children learn about electrical safety. Volunteers from local groups, including the Monroe County Farm Bureau, FFA members and Maple Grove neighbors, help it run each year.

The farm sits in the Maple Grove Road Rural Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998 as Indiana’s first rural historic district. The district takes in miles of dry-laid stone walls, 19th-century homesteads, barns, a church and a cemetery. The farm is also tied to Rachel Peden, the Indiana author who wrote about farm life and whose family helped start the festival.

Peden Farm holds a 4.9-star rating on Google from 8 reviews. One Google reviewer wrote: “I went with my son’s school as a chaperon and we had a great time together. We rode the hay wagon and toured the field with a guide who talked about the history of the farm.”

Before you visit

Peden Farm is a private family farm, and the festival is organized for school and preschool groups. Please call (812) 322-0633 before you go, and do not drop in unannounced. Recent festivals were held in late September. If you are a teacher or group leader, ask the farm about dates and how to join.