MIDDLEBORO — Children had the chance to learn about where milk comes from and pet a real life dairy calf at Soule Homestead’s First Farm Fun event on Tuesday, Aug. 13. 

The event is one of many early childhood programs put on by Soule Homestead, a farm and agricultural education center in Middleboro. 

First Farm Fun, which is geared towards two to five-year-olds, introduced young children to all the programs the center has to offer, said the farm’s director Kelly MacDonald. 

Children got to meet Star, a 10-day-old calf from Lolans Farm in Middleboro, make cow-inspired crafts and listen to a story about cows read aloud by Sue Shields, owner of Lolans Farm. 

Violet Penniman said she was surprised at how “fuzzy” and ‘fluffy” the calf was, and that her favorite part of the day was making cow art and climbing trees with her friends. 

Casey Eisenhauer, who brought her daughters Eloise and Cecilia to First Farm Fun, said she loves exposing her children to nature and that Soule Homestead is “the perfect place” for it. 

Sue Shields makes it a point to come out to these events to educate children. “I think it’s really important that young kids see animals and know that their food comes from dirt and [understand] the whole cycle,” she said, adding that a cow is the epitome of that cycle.

The grass grows because of the sun and the rain, the cow eats the grass, her body converts the nutrients from the grass into milk and we drink the milk. Then, we use the cow manure as fertilizer, she explained. 

Taylor Knights brought her children to meet a cow from the farm where they buy raw milk, which she gives her kids everyday before breakfast. 

Knights said Lolans Farm “is the only farm [close] to us that sells raw milk, and that’s important to our family.”