CENTRE WELLINGTON – The Cnossen family is preparing to serve up to 1,700 community members breakfast on its Holstein dairy farm on June 17.
This is the fourth Breakfast on the Farm event, and the first since prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s the second time the Cnossen Holsteins farm is hosting the event.
Farmer Rudy Cnossen said the event is to increase awareness about where food comes from.
When they hosted the event in 2019, about 1,400 people attended.
Rudy’s son Harry Cnossen said the “social event” will remove a barrier between people and what they eat. He noted “the more people know the more open they are.”
He recommends people “start growing their own food [because] having this joy and privilege and reward puts a smile on your face.”
During Breakfast on the Farm guests will get to see 150 dairy cows in the 44,000-square-foot automatic voluntary milking system.
For farmers, the event is a chance to check out what’s working well in the Cnossen barn, said event organizer Denise Kankainen.
4-H will bring along a beef calf and a heavy horse for people to meet, as well as “three little pigs,” she said.
That’s in addition to the “regular chickens, ducks, and dwarf goats” who live full-time on the farm, Cnossen added. The animals are friendly and guests are welcome to pet them.
“When you spend a lot of time with animals they become pets,” he noted.
“They actually become family. My girls.”
Generational farm
The Cnossen farm is a three-generation family business, with Harry’s six children, wife and father Rudy all pitching in.
Harry started helping his father on the farm in Holland when he was eight years old.
Now, the automated milking system shoulders a lot of the work, Harry said, milking each of the cows three times a day.
Harry noted his sisters, brothers, nieces and nephews will be attending Breakfast on the Farm.
For kids there will be a bouncy castle, a barnyard playground with interactive toys, supplies for planting sunflowers, a corn table, a puzzle table, and the opportunity to hold a baby chick.
Breakfast will be pancakes, eggs, sausages and baked beans.
Local food being served
Organizers will also serve coffee, white milk, chocolate milk, and ice cream. Maple syrup for the pancakes has been donated by the Trask family farm.
“Ice cream – for breakfast!” Harry said with a laugh in an interview with the Advertiser.
The event runs from 9am to 12pm.
Tickets are $12 per adult, $8 for those aged six to 12, and free for kids five and under.
Funds support the Fergus Agricultural Society and Alma Optimist Club.
Parking lots are located on Wellington Road 18 in Salem, Artech Millwrights, Smith Concrete, Summit Laser, and Grand River Community Church.
Each lot will be marked with a large sign, and shuttles run from the lots to the farm.
Parking is available at the farm for people with accessible parking passes.
