Boyett's Grove & Citrus Attraction Museum, Brooksville, Florida

We have been going to the Tin Can Tourists rally at the Sertoma Youth Ranch for many years now, but was cancelled this year. I started to look for things to do in the area and discovered Boyett's Grove & Citrus Attraction Museum, just a few miles from the Ranch. Boyett's is located in Brooksville, Florida at the top of a hill on Spring Lake Highway.

It's filled with an assortment of souvenirs, oranges, jams, and clothes. We went to see their zoo, which has a whole bunch of different types of animals, from zebra, wallabies, alligators and zee-donks, deer, crazy ducks, ostrich, camel and coatamundi.

The attraction started in 1966 as an open-air citrus market for the Boyett family citrus grove, but it quickly took on elements of old-time roadside attractions that once dotted the Florida roadscapes. “You can only do so much with making oranges exciting,” said co-owner Kathy Oleson, a Boyett daughter who manages the attraction with her husband, Jim. “And there was a severe freeze in the 1960s that destroyed much of the grove, so people started donating animals to us because we had acreage, and it just evolved from there. With all the problems we’ve had with growing oranges and grapefruit in the last few years, such as citrus greening, I’m glad we diversified.”

We wandered through the gift shop before going into the zoo area. If you want, you can also play a game of putt putt on the course that is throughout the building. There are 4 doors to go through, so you want to be sure to hit each of them as they take you to different parts of the zoo area.

When we went through the first door, there is a small area of bunnies, one of which escaped and was running around a tree. I tried getting it but in the end Bill snatched it and put it back in its pen.

After rescuing the bunny we wandered into main yard and the first guy we encountered was the camel. Inside we were able to buy food (bread and fruit) for the animals. The camel loves the bread. 

After we left the camel, we headed toward the Alpacas. They are all behind fences, and it was hard to feed these little guys.

Also in the same family is the Llama, although a lot bigger than the alpacas. This guy was by himself behind the fenced area.

The geese at the Farm were funny. They would waddle all over their compound making the strangest noises. I wanted to get a video of them, but they did not cooperate for that, however, I was able to get a good picture of them.

I was told there was a 65 year-old monkey here at the Farm and I think this guy is the one. 

These miniature horses were really cute.

They had some albino peacocks and I tried real hard to get one with its wings out.

Some stuffed animals

This lizard is not stuffed

The ostrich was a great big fellow - just keep your fingers away from them.

I don't remember what these critters are called, but they appear to be a cross between a zebra and mule.

The first time we went to the Farm was with Bill & Julie; then when Sean & Jacklyn came, Jayden wanted to go. Here is a picture of them with the Zebras.

Jacklyn feeding a tortoise 

Jayden feeding a tortoise

This little deer is another one of the old animals at the Farm. Most every one of them are rescues.

They had one room where they kept all the parrots. It was really sad seeing them in these cages. Some were alone, and some were with other parrots. Some could not even sit on the bottom of the cages as there was really no bottom, just cage material. It was really pretty sad to see them in this state.