Petting Farm Charlottesville, Virginia

Snuggle Butts Farm is a “tiny, but mighty” micro-farm in Albemarle County, VA. We didn’t originally have intentions of becoming a farm. We only have about 3 acres, so the thought didn’t really occur to us. We love animals though, and as we added more of them, we just sort of organically grew into one. We have had chickens on and off since we have lived here, but when Covid hit, we felt the pressure to be more self-reliant for our food. We started a new flock so that we would have plenty of eggs, and I started numerous vegetable seeds so that we would have fresh veggies from our garden. We were pretty content with our chickens and garden until Gabe switched careers and began working as an Assistant Farm Manager. Part of his job involved managing a herd of cattle. The family got to visit the farm on the weekends in order to move the cattle or check on them when calves were born.

At the time, I was a Property Manager going through a really rough year. The property at which I was working was being sold, and we were short-staffed on top of that. This was the second time in two years that this had happened to me, and it was one of the most stressful periods of my life. I had worked as a Property Manager for over two decades. If I didn’t work there anymore, what in the world was I going to do?

These thoughts kept me up at night and gave me headaches during the day. What I started to notice, though, was that when Gabe took us to his farm, all of that stress just disappeared. I could have sat in that field of cows all day and been content. Those cows were not even friendly cows that would let you touch them, but just being in their presence brought me such peace. This is how the seed for Snuggle Butts Farm was planted. We have used our own two hands building shelters and fencing to create our farm and bring this dream to reality. We still have projects to accomplish, but it’s so exciting to see how far we have come! Our hope is that by offering cuddle sessions with our farm animals, others will get to experience the same joy that we get each day here. We look forward to welcoming you to our farm and bringing a smile to your face!