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A Moving Experience: Mother's Farm Dream Comes True

Tribune photo by CANDACE C. MUNDY

Placiotis feeds the ducks and geese during afternoon chores on the farm.

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By ELAINE MARKOWITZ

Tribune correspondent

Published: September 3, 2008

KEYSTONE - Marousa Placiotis, a single mom with four home-schooled sons and two foster children, is living a dream of owning her own farm.

Having grown up on a family farm in New Jersey, Placiotis spent a portion of her adult years in pursuit of the perfect farm of her own. She found it five years ago on 10 acres in Odessa.

Serenity reigns on the property. Mostly, one hears only the geese, goats, sheep, turkeys and rabbits engaged in their own kind of chatter. These furry and feathered creatures roam the land freely by day and are ushered into their pens at night. Sometimes a family of sandhill cranes ambles by, their calls resembling machinery in need of oil.

Placiotis owns Noah's Ark on Wheels, a traveling petting zoo that has blossomed into a success story. She said the business evolved accidentally, beginning on an earlier, smaller farm she owned in the Keystone area.

From unexpected beginnings, a booming business has grown up. The zoo, Placiotis said, is not just about earning money. She said she is committed to educating children about farm animals and, at the same time, paving the way for a future business venture for her sons.

Having a business was not part of the initial plan in owning a farm.

"I started with a goat and a couple of rabbits to teach our children responsibility," she said.

The farm animals soon attracted a small crowd.

"Other home-schooling moms brought their children to the farm just for fun and playtime," Placiotis said one recent morning. "Before they left, the mothers put donations in a jar they put on the table, with money to feed the animals."

Soon her church brought preschool children out to the farm and also insisted on making a contribution.

"That's how it all started," she said. "I saw a way to feed the animals by doing a couple of parties a month."

While continuing to hold parties on the farm, Placiotis began taking her show on the road as well.

"For my first show, I loaded the animals into my Dodge minivan and took them to another preschool," she said.

The mother turned entrepreneur has expanded her zoo in recent years and now has 85 assorted animals, including a miniature pony and 22 goats. She added pens for the animals, a wooden barn and two traveling trailers.

The bright red trailers, parked next to the pen for goats and sheep, resemble small cabooses. These vehicles cart some 15 farm animals, including a small riding pony, to children's birthday parties. In December they carry goats and sheep to local churches for Nativity plays.

Placiotis initially got customers by word of mouth. She was mainly concerned with making feed money for the animals. Now business seems to come to her, and kids of all ages take to the animals.

"Kids love the parties," said Ben Jensen, owner of a local ranch-hand service, who came on board with Placiotis in 2006.

"I teach the children something about every animal when I'm out at a party," he said.

"When we are hired for city kids who haven't been exposed to farm animals," said Placiotis, "they are terrified at first."

She said the children warm up as soon as they realize how tame the pets are.

"These kids are experiencing a little bit of farm," she said, "and farms are a disappearing style of life."

Placiotis offers standard zoo packages for birthday parties for $250 an hour. The fee includes 15 petting animals and a pony ride. She brings an attendant who carries a hand sanitizer for the petting ring and also requires clients to provide access to soap and warm water.

"You can't leave the petting ring without slathering your hands with sanitizer," she said. "We've never yet had a problem with anyone getting ill from our parties."

Her business is licensed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and also is insured.

Placiotis is committed to the rural lifestyle and the animals she has grown to love.

She comes to her choice naturally.

Born to immigrant Greek parents, she grew up on 90 acres of family land, where her father boarded horses and raised small numbers of turkeys, goats and chickens. She also spent summers in Greece with her grandparents, who had goats, sheep and chicken on their land.

"I knew I'd live on a farm," she said, envisioning life as an adult. "It would be either my family's farm or one of my own."

Placiotis and her former husband purchased a number of small farm properties in New Jersey. In 1991 the couple followed her parents, who had retired to Tarpon Springs. The Gulf of Mexico, she found, was no substitute for farmland.

"Every day I went searching for land to start a farm," she said.

After a series of purchases of smaller properties, Placiotis settled in Odessa and doesn't plan to leave her dream farm.

"I can be a stay-at-home mom, earn a little money and also do something positive for the community," she said.

A FARM ON WHEELS

Marousa Placiotis owns Noah's Ark on Wheels, a traveling petting zoo. There are 85 animals, including a pony, geese, goats, sheep, turkeys and rabbits.

For information, call (813) 792-7111, or (727) 455-4985. Or go to noahsarkonwheels.com.

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