a million dollar tip

Here's a free business idea for someone with the cash and space to do it. Ready? Set up a children's farm/petting farm, near me.

It's so silly that there isn't one. My Mum's best friend used to run a brilliant one near here. She was busy all the time with schools, parties and groups and on weekends it was sheer madness. Over-fed chickens and ducks and tormented pigs and goats everywhere. The kids just loved it. She and her family ran it for years, then the lifestyle got the better of them and off they went to see Australia. The new owners only open irregularly.

We were so thrilled when G started to understand what animals are, I was desperate to take him to the zoo or a farm. It just seems ridiculous that we couldn't find anywhere to show him a cow or a chook. We live well out of town, and yet to find a 'farm' we had to go to into the city. And it cost us $8 each to walk through, which is just wrong. You can't even feed the animals, just look at them. For all my moaning, we did have a fantastic day, G loved it, moo-ing and clucking all the while. He was thrilled with the geese and the ducks.

But surely there's some call for this kind of resource locally? What do the kinders, schools and general public do? Wait for the annual, local agricultural show? Not see farm animals at all? Take up the challenge and open a farm, dear readers, someone, anyone. It's a million dollar idea, just sitting there, waiting.