From plant potting to a peek at baby animals, Round the Bend Farm's first Open Farm Day of the year was a hit for the nearly 200 people who attended the April 21 event.

The day-long event began with a plant potting activity for children of all ages, hosted by Nate Sander, the farm's education manager. Each child got a container which they filled with beach stones and dirt. Kids were given a choice of plants, which included tomato and chamomile, among others.

Kyle Merrill picked chamomile for his mother, Karen, who loves using the herb.

“I wanted to pick this for when she can make soap and put it in it,” he said.

Parents and adults weren’t left out either – they could make their own herb plants for $5 each, with herbs including lavender and english thyme.

A farm tour an hour later included several stops to visit the farm's newest animal additions. Beekeeper Lucy Tabit showed visitors what a queen bee looks like before the group visited the farm's 17 baby goats, pigs, and other farm animals.

Ana Huggins, who brought her two children Zeb and Sadie to the event, said it was a great day for it.

“This is fun,” Huggins said. “It was certainly a beautiful day for it.”

Executive Director Desa Van Laarhoven was astounded by the amount of people who had turned out just 30 minutes into the event. She said it was a perfect day to celebrate mother earth, with Earth Day the very next day.

"For me, I always believe it’s the bigger picture,” Van Laarhoven said. “I believe that there’s some really big issues or challenges that we're facing in this world, so the more of these type of community activities – the more of these sort of thwarting resource depletion – and that’s part of what we’re doing right now. The more of that that happens I feel a lot better – that we’re all in it together."

The next open farm day is scheduled for May 19. Round the Bend Farm is located at 92 Allen Neck Rd.