Conversations with Mindy Forbes

Today we’d like to introduce you to Mindy Forbes.

Hi Mindy, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Cress Creeks Sheep farm and Corn Maze was founded just north of Atlanta in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in 2022. As a family run farm, it offers a unique hands on experience to the public for a not so common animal product. Hands on meet the sheep hayrides are a fun opportunity to learn about our sheep production and offers personal connections with our newborn lambs for guest of all ages. In the fall, our eight acre corn maze is sure to please, with twist and turns throughout our fields. Fun animal interaction areas are also open along with fresh baked confections made in house.

Cress Creeks Farm was founded by Mindy and Lee Forbes, who hale from
Florida but with Alaska roots. In 2022 they moved up from Florida to the area with open intentions. After visiting the land that would be come Cress Creeks Farm, their son Hayden felt his calling to become a farmer. Cress Creeks, named for Hayden Cress, was an easy decision to promote our son’s passion. With lots of sweat and long days from each of us, we opened our doors in October of 2024 to the public.

Our onsite farm store offers the best from each of us. Mindy, a certified pastry chef, loves to bake daily fresh confections for our visitors and has curated the unique gifts and treats for our shelves. Lee, previously a corporate real estate broker, master plans the farm experience and development. Hayden, runs the daily care of the animals and grounds along side of Lee. When you stop in for your visit, you are sure to meet each of our family.

As we grow, you will find new experiences being offered at the farm. The recent addition of farm-to-table dinners are held under our walnut trees featuring live music performances from local musicians and multi corse meals prefix with dishes all grown and raised on our farm. Be sure to check out out the upcoming events on the website calendar at https://CressCreeksFarm.com

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Farming is hard, no two ways around it. Weather, wildlife, and being the new venue on the block, all offer unique challenges that take enormous preparation and grace to surpass. Working with live animals takes constant attention, but guest can easily see the love we pour into our livestock and featured pets. As an open to the public farm, we work far extra to make sure the experience is obviously positive for our critters and guests.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Fresh lamb, beef, and pork is our focus. We carefully control our breeds to offer our top notch fresh cuts in our farm store freezers. Selling direct to our visitors, guests can take home select frozen cuts at the end of their visit. We offer a unique, know where your food comes from shopping experience. It is becoming more important for folks to know how and where their meals come from, and our guest will learn the seasonal lifecycles of our harvests and our lamb to lamb-chop process.

Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
We are still new to the farm game. Our years of experience working with the public lends greatly to our public farm which is one of a kind. Our advise would be to welcome the public, and be open to advice from your guest on how to improve what you offer.

Pricing:

• Baby lamb hayride tours $15
• Fall corn maze $15

Contact Info:

• Website: https://CressCreeksFarm.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cresscreeksfarm
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CressCreeksFarm
• Other: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g34929-d27170795-Reviews-Cress_Creeks_Farm_And_Corn_Maze-Ellijay_Gilmer_County_Georgia.html

Image Credits
Taken by Lee Forbes