By Tom Collins
ANCASTER — An early morning rain and mud puddles in front of the barn didn’t stop 1,600 people — many in boots and rain jackets — from lining up for a free breakfast at the ninth Breakfast on the Farm.
Rain stopped pouring just minutes before visitors started arriving for the June 23 event at Cranston Farms at Ancaster, near Hamilton. Doug and Joan Cranston, along with their son James, milk 80 cows in an open concept pack barn.
The event offers urbanites an experience of the farm. Some expressed surprise that chickens roam freely on some farms and apples can be stored all winter. Some people asked how many times a week a cow is milked and were “astounded to find that farmers milk them two to three times a day,” said event organizer Kelly Daynard, executive director of Farm & Food Care Ontario. One visitor, a British Columbia woman, planned her Toronto trip to visit family around the Breakfast on the Farm event, Daynard said.
Volunteers served 208 litres of apple cider, 4,400 turkey sausages, 1,560 cartons of white and chocolate milk, 65 litres of baked beans, 120 litres of canola oil, 2,200 pancakes, 32 litres of maple syrup and 4,800 eggs.
The next Breakfast on the Farm will be held on Sept. 8 at North Gower Grains in Eastern Ontario, south of Ottawa.
