If you weren’t at the Fergus Fall Fair’s Breakfast on the Farm event last weekend, put it on your calendar for next year.
I can honestly say, a good time was had by all.
I know this because I asked everyone who boarded the shuttle buses at the end of the day if they had fun. It was a resounding yes. From everyone. A diverse crowd of visitors of all ages and not a single complaint. Imagine that.
The Carpenter and I volunteered for this one-day event on a whim. I roped him into this gig the same way he roped me into our last volunteer gig, picking up beer cans at a rock concert.
My plan was surely going to be way more fun obviously, because there would be cows.
Fun fact about me: I love cows. Always have. Mind you, I’ve never had one, cared for one or like, been around them. I blame my parents. They flat out refused to raise me on a farm, where I could have my own cows. City people. Eye roll.
The Carpenter calls me a romantic farmer because he says I only love the idea because I have no idea what the reality of farming is like. He does, of course, because he knows everything (cough), because he was raised in Huron County and spent much of his childhood helping out on farms.
He’s not wrong (which is different from saying he’s right). Yet he knows I respect the hard work, the long hours, the uncertainty and the challenges that farm families face.
It’s amazing how often I have driven by the Cnossen Family Dairy Farm, but never fully appreciated how large this place was until we got there. We walked around in awe of the spacious milking barn, automated and clean, and the out buildings, all the equipment, the crops and the space. It was impressive.
I made sure that morning to stop and look around at the farm land that extends out to the east, west and north of the Cnossen farm, with the village of Salem and Elora to the south. What a view. Green spaces. Ribbon roads. Life growing up all around. The things we take for granted.
This was the first Breakfast on the Farm for both the Carpenter and I, and the event was even better than we imagined. Big thanks to the Alma Optimist Club for the great food.
The crowds were enthusiastic. The suppliers, guest farmers and vendors were spread out and children (the ones in line behind me, because I wanted to be first) got to have real hands-on farm experience.
I held a baby duck. Guess what I want for my birthday? You don’t even want to know how excited I was to see a newborn calf, just minutes old by the time I got there, taking its first steps.
And I got to spend half a day on a working farm surrounded by people who either loved farming, or loved farms. These are my people. Also, cows. So many cows.
But it was the gratitude of the people boarding the buses, hearing their favourite experiences, especially those who told me it was the first time they had ever stepped foot on a farm, or the children who were thrilled by everything they saw.
Thank you to the organizers for letting me get my cow fix, and the Cnossen family for hosting us.
We had the best time.
