Our Experience at Breakfast On The Farm {Uphaus Farms in Manchester, Michigan}

Supporting Michigan agriculture is a passion of mine and something I have enjoyed learning about since marrying my husband who grew-up on a farm.

My kids absolutely love visiting my in-laws farm. From checking out the tractors, to sticking their hands in the corn crib and grabbing feed for the cows — it truly is such a great learning and sensory experience for them, and I love watching them run all over the yard with excitement.

We recently had the opportunity to visit another cattle farm in Manchester, Michigan — Uphaus Farms — through the Michigan State University Extension Program, Breakfast on the Farm. We all had a ball! OK, the baby just slept the entire time, but he got lots of stimulation in the form of moo-ing, baa-ing and lovely cow smells 😉

If you aren’t familiar, Breakfast on the Farm (BOTF) gives consumers and farm neighbors a first-hand look at modern food production, and the farm families who work hard to produce a safe, wholesome food supply for Michigan communities and the world.

The night before the event, power outages swept across the region, leaving thousands without power, including the farm. That didn’t stop the event from happening with the help of generators. Because of mud and outages, they had busses transporting us from a parking lot to the farm. While we weren’t thrilled with needing to bring a stroller on board, the girls were SO excited to ride a real school bus – ha!

When we arrived, we were shuffled into the food line. I was happy because I was hungry! Good thing too, because they had LOTS of food: Eggs, pancakes, sausage, yogurt, muffins and milk. We all ate like kings — especially the girls who really seemed to enjoy it all 🙂 Woohoo for a FREE farm-fresh breakfast!

From there, we put on some booties to keep the mud/cow pie trackage on our shoes to a minimum and starting trekking our way through the farm. We learned about cow care, how they are fed, and more. Families with kids also had the opportunity to enjoy a hay ride, face painting a corn bin for digging and more.

Kinley and Karina LOVED milking a fake cow, and my husband, with his many years of milking experience, was able to show him how it’s done.

One of my favorite parts was watching a sheep get sheared. I never knew how it was done, but the farmer had some mad skills maneuvering him round to get all the fur. We were able to feel it and pet the shaved sheep as well. Karina thought the sheep baa-ing was the funniest thing ever.

There were plenty of tractors for kids to check out and pose by as well.

At the end, the girls got a goody bag full of fun things like a coloring book, tattoo, stickers and more, plus an ice cream sandwich.

They passed out on the way home — a true indication of what a fun morning they had.

This event was the last BOTF event for the year, but there will be more events announced next spring. Be on the lookout, and I will be sure to share, too. I highly recommend going to one of these events. You simply cannot beat FREE, educational family fun!

The events run from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. with breakfast ending at noon. Tickets are FREE and required for the breakfast. Locations where you can pick up your tickets will be posted on the website approximately one month before the event.

Learn more at www.breakfastonthefarm.com or follow them on Facebook and Twitter.

For more photos of the event, visit my Facebook page.

Stay tuned for a dairy-delicious sponsored breakfast recipe post later this week!

What do your children love about farms?