Patch 22 open for pony rides, goat-feeding and farm animal visits

Lori Grala watched her 4-year-old son Brody as he ran to fill his hands with food to feed the goats at Patch 22, an Irish family farm in Wadsworth on opening day, the first of May.

"It's fun seeing the kids with all the animals," said Lori of Grayslake. Brody and his classmates from Mary's Peppermint Stick Preschool visited the farm to meet goats, turkey, rabbit, guinea pig, roosters, chickens, ponies, horses and two easy-going farm dogs.

Patch 22 has been hosting parties and school events for more than 30 years, giving vistitors a glimpse into an authentic working Irish family farm, as well as a chance to go on hay and pony rides. On Sundays, Patch 22 is open to the public.

As 4-year-old Mia Pirie pet a guinea pig, her mother, Jackie Pirie said youngsters should learn about life on a farm because it teaches them the process of life. "It teaches them about food source and respect for animals," Pirie said. "This farm is so clean and the animals are well-treated."

An Irish tale

The story of Patch 22 began when Michael Kelly left Ireland in the late 1960s fo find work. At Butch McGuire's, an Irish pub in Chicago, he met his wife Linda.

Together, they started a farm at Route 22 and Prairie View known as Patch 22 in 1977. In 1988, they moved the farm to Kelly's Road near Route 41 in Wadsworth to be in a more rural area.

Dan Kelly, Michael and Linda's son, took over management of Patch 22 with his brother Sean after the farm moved to Kelly's Road. Coincidentally, the new land spanned 22 acres so they kept the name Patch 22. The family also owns an equestrian center called Kelly's On 41.

Of taking over Patch 22, 15900 Kelly Road, Dan said "When you're in your 20s, you think you'll do something else [than the family business.] Then you realize it's what you're born to do and start to appreciate it."

It's another coincidence – or luck of the Irish – that the name of Kelly's Road was in place before the family moved Patch 22 there. But Linda Kelly, Dan's mother, said it's possible that the man the road is named after, Peter Kelly, was a distant relative of the Patch 22 Kellys because he emigrated from the same area of Ireland.

The Kelly family still has plenty of relatives on the Emerald Isle, some of whom work at the old family farm near Mullingar, Ireland. It's much different there, according to Niahm Weifer, an Irish relative who's working at Patch 22 with her cousins for a year.

Niehm said the biggest difference between the Irish and American farms is the weather. She remembers family tales of missing weddings to plow a field.

"It's much more green, with much more forestry around it, and hills and stone walls. And hedgerows. You don't see hedgerows here," she said.

Dan said family members from Ireland and America visit each other's farms frequently. The family had its first family reunion in Ireland last year. The last time Dan went to the Irish farm, his uncle gave him pointers on raising cows, he said.

"What's really neat is we can text each other," Dan said. "I can text my aunt [in Ireland] and ask her for recipes for cheese. When my dad first came over, he'd hardly write letters."

Jandel Kelly, Dan's wife, never imagined she'd be a farmer's wife growing up in Beach Park. The couple has a 3-month old baby.

Linda Kelly, seeing her daughter-in-law Jandel hold the new baby, said "The farm is a past and a future. Dan was just planting trees the other day and said maybe someday his children will enjoy the shade of those trees. It's all about the renewal of life."

Standing next to two horses hitched up to the farm's hay ride, Jandel said she grew up "totally suburban. I didn't know things like brown eggs come from brown chickens, and white eggs come from white chickens. People think white eggs are bleached and that brown eggs are organic but it's that simple.

"Now I can't imagine life without the farm. My favorite time of year is spring when everything comes to life and babies of everything are born. It makes you excited for the rest of the year."

Pony rides

One of Patch 22's biggest events of the year is the Lake County Fair, where they feature pony rides and a petting zoo. Dan said some people will ask about the welfare of the animals. "Newborn calves are naturally very skinny, so some people will think they aren't well fed," he said.

Most of the ponies come from Amish farms where they pulled kids to school in a cart every day. Dan goes into Amish communities to make deals on ponies and horses.

Jandel said, "Dan usually has a full beard so he fits right in." The family laughed.

The ponies always have breaks for food and water when they're working, Dan said. "We have public pony rides only on Sundays and only for one season, so they get a lot of time off," he said.

For the ponies, which are transported to parties during pony ride season in the warmer months, the Kellys try to expose them to people, balloons and loud noises along with anything else they may encounter at a child's party. "We have friends with kids who are our test dummies," Dan said.

It's also the nature of the family to be calm, which seems to rub off on their animals. "It's important to be calm around animals," Dan said.

Dan Larson, operations manager, who's been working on the farm for 15 years, said "You can't really do anything like this anywhere else in this area. This is a really close-knit family farm where everyone pitches in if something goes wrong."

As noisy roosters moved inside their pen, a little boy from Peppermint Patty Preschool shouted, "Stop it roosters. They've been cockle-doodle-dooing all day."

Little hands gently petted the new black-and-white baby goat, just under two weeks old. The farm recently bought a mini-pony, who is pregnant.

The goat is unnamed, but Jandel Kelly, farmer Dan's wife, said it would probably have a name by the end of the day. "If kids ask for an animal's name and it doesn't have one yet, we let them name it," she said.

Allison Augsberger, a parent chaperone, said "[Kids should see farms] so that they understand about animals other than the pets in home – how they live and how they are cared for," she said.

Her son, Nolan, 4, enjoyed the hay ride, Augsberger said. "The kids liked giving voice commands to the horses to go faster or slower. They liked being in control."

For more information, visit www.kellyson41.com and www.patch22.biz.