Stephanie Spear 
Spring is a time for new things – fresh blooms, green leaves, and baby animals. One Lovettsville farm opens its doors every spring, giving everyone a chance to snuggle and feed baby goats. George’s Mill Farm is an 8th-generation family farm in Loudoun County that produces cheeses, soaps, and other products from its goat herd. Read on for more about this historic farm and how you can snuggle a baby goat.
George’s Mill Farm
The farm was founded in 1750 by John George. The farm is about 150 acres in size, with 90 acres set aside for farming. Currently, 17 members of the family live on the property, which has its own small lake and a stone house built in the 1860’s by John George’s grandson, Samuel George. Sam and Molly Kroiz are the current farmers: Sam is a descendant of John George. Their children, Mabel and Doolin, are the 9th generation to live on the farm.
Sam grew up on the farm and Molly grew up in New England. They met while working in Washington State. “I started making cheese as a hobby during graduate school,” Molly said. “I was a scientist in my previous life and I fell in love with the process.”
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The two were looking for something more meaningful, so they moved back to Virginia and got serious about goat farming. “There was a lot of small-scale farming where I grew up, and where we were living in Washington State, so it felt familiar,” she said. “We thought we could do something like that here.” They moved back in 2011 and got their first goats in 2012. Now, the herd has upwards of 80 adult goats, with 80-100 babies born each spring. The entire operation is on site at George’s Mill, from the goat milking to the cheesemaking.
Baby Goat Cuddles
George’s Mill Farm is a working farm, so while it’s not exactly set up for regular visitors, the team participates in the twice-yearly Loudoun County Farm Tour and the springtime baby goat feeding sessions. “The goats graze throughout the property, so most of the time they’re far away,” Molly said. “That’s not as fun for visitors.” The goats mainly eat all the green stuff that is not grass, such as brambles, vines, and trees, known as ‘browse’. It’s nutritionally dense and naturally occurring, so Molly and the team have to keep the goats moving around the property.
The baby goats arrive in March. At our mid-March visit, there were about 40 baby goats and all but one goat were part of a set of multiples – lots of goat twins and triplets. “These all arrived on March 7th and 8th,” Molly said. “We’ll have another round probably March 24th and 25th.”
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The baby goat experience is everything you imagine it would be – cute, chaotic, noisy, funny. The bottle feeding is by reservation, and the babies are hungry and excited. Molly and her team make sure that every guest has a goat and every goat has a bottle.
Guests can also reserve private snuggle sessions, which do not include bottle feeding. Guests can also visit the baby goats from dusk till dawn during the season. The most up-to-date information is found on the farm’s social media. The snuggle sessions and bottle feeding are held rain or shine; after all, it’s a farm.
There’s plenty of parking at the farm, and there is a farm store near the baby goats with locally grown produce, and of course, goat cheeses. The Georges Mill Farm cheeses can be found at many local markets, farmers markets, and restaurants. Part of the 1860’s stone house is available for Airbnb stays, for those who can’t get enough of the baby goats or just want to enjoy a weekend on a historical farm.
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For more information about George’s Mill Farm or to schedule your baby goat visit, please visit its website.
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