All this could be my favorite part of the day now. We'll look close at it at the microphone.
I'll wait for everything you have to say. Kathy Shaw was back with us this year. It's breakfast
on the farm. Breakfast is my favorite food of the day. And nobody. I don't care who you are.
Makes a better breakfast than me. I have secret omelette ingredients. I have everything.
You name it. I can make it for breakfast. It is nobody makes an omelette better than me.
It's fluffy. I use heavy whipping cream in the eggs. It fluffs it up. It's just magnificent.
But second best in the world is breakfast on the farm. What now? When did this start? Give us
a little background on breakfast on the farm. And then we'll talk about the specifics where it is
this year. It started about 10 years ago. A group of like-minded people got together and
in Racine County. And they decided to start promoting agriculture in Wisconsin, educating
the public on agriculture in Wisconsin. In Wisconsin, June is dairy month. And throughout the state,
throughout the month of June, dairy is promoted through breakfast on the farm throughout the
state. Kenosha County had their breakfast two weeks ago. Wallworth County will have one.
A lot of different counties throughout the state have it. And we have breakfast on the farm,
ours is always the fourth Saturday of June. And it's to come on out and see what agriculture is
all about. See where your food comes from. Some years we have it on a dairy farm. We've also
had it on a pumpkin farm, a grain farm, a beef farm, a sod farm. These are all different types
of agriculture in the state of Wisconsin. A fat farm. We're fat farms. Kathy Shaw, that your family
has a farm. Is it you or just your family owns it? Actually four years ago, my husband and myself,
we dissolved the partnership with our son and now our son and his wife on the business,
the dairy business, Shaw, dairy farm and are slowly buying the assets of the farm over the years,
the cattle, the machinery and down the road, the land. Are you surprised me? You said how many
dairy farms are left in Wisconsin? Well in Wisconsin, it's 676, I think, but in the
Racine County only 14. Obviously it was higher than that at one time. Oh well, look at how many
empty barns you drive by when you put it on the road. Why you said? Because it's
hard to make a living at one time. Everybody had a little bit of a farm because that's how they
raised their family. They had a couple of cows. They had some land that they could feed their
family with and it has gone the other way. It's a very hard way of life and it's something you
can't get into anymore unless it's family operated and passed down or you have somebody who will
mentor you and bring you in. So you can't start any ways. It's difficult to start a very difficult
to start up on your own. So I'd be like green acres if I tried to start one. It would be difficult.
There are some people that are doing it, but it is very difficult. Oh man. You know, I told you
before we went on the air, my wife says that our farm reports we run with Pam Yankee at from
June 5 and 6 and then at 630 and 730 says that's the most important information you guys have on
that radio station because the world runs on food. Everybody has to have food. And she said,
if there's ever a shortage of food, you think Black Friday sales of years ago where people grab
an item that are on sale stumped or something, wait till there's a shortage of food and you'll
really see people grab and they'll do anything they can to get food and the farmers supply it.
Yes. Now, how we doing is everybody we're making enough food obviously for this country and
the world. We still make it. I mean, I see farms still being plowed. Yes.
Around because funny you mentioned that there's a farm next to our church that's no longer a farm.
It's all weeds now. But when I first started going to our church there on Spring Street,
they were plowing the fields and harvesting. Now it's not. Yeah, there's less all the time because
more farmland is being turned into residential areas or commercial businesses.
There's more money in it. Yes, there's more money in it. And if they have nobody to take over
the land after Grandpa or Dad passes away, then it's sold to the highest bidder because
they want their money. I didn't see a farm until I was an adult because I grew up there.
There are farms where I grew up. And when I moved to Atlanta, I once, we were a big radio station.
We had a farm show on the station. I once said, I think it'd be nice to start a farm and the
engineer was laughing at me. A city boy like you going to start a farm? You got to be kidding me.
And I think he's right. I wouldn't know where to begin. Well, depending upon what type of farm you have,
if it's a grain farm versus like a farm that has animals, sheep, hogs, dairy, you know, if you're
with animals, you have to be part of that an area. You have to know how to market your produce.
You have to know an agronomy, your soil. You have to know, you know, watch the weather. There
are so many things. You have to be competent in mechanic also in order to make this function.
And you can't take a two-week vacation because the animals have to eat.
That is correct. cows like to be milked twice a day, 365 days of the year. And yeah,
vacations are slim. When I talk to the guy who owns jungle gym, who owns
jungle J rather owns the like Geneva Safari. I said, you know, he closes for the season in
October and they don't open till May. He said, but the animals still have to eat. They still eat
vet care. They, I mean, we make clothes down, but there's still got to be employees here to feed
these animals, even though we're not open. So he's going to make all his money in the summer.
If he doesn't, the animals don't eat. And of course, they always eat. So let's talk about
breakfast on the farm. I went last year for the first time. You had it at the county fair grounds.
Correct. Because I guess you were going to have it at your family farm. And we had a little
sprinkle of water outside and the ground was a little damp. So we had a huge, huge downpour
at 530 in the morning. And the committee had to make a, a call. And it wasn't a happy thing. But
the tents were all sagging and a river of water was running through the door yard. And the dry
hay field they were going to park in was now mud. And, but that's real farm life. We would have
enjoyed it. Yeah, we went to got another hay crop off that field this year. Yeah. So we have
the county fairgrounds, which it was nice. It was very nice. Very well done. But this year,
it's on a farm. Yes. I don't see any major rain in the forecast coming off, which is good.
And tell us about where it's going to be this year. This year, it's going to be hosted by frost
farms, which is a dairy forage and grain farm in Waterford, Wisconsin. And the frost farm has
been farming since 1836. Whoa. Sixth generation. Lincoln was a little pop at that time. Yeah.
Steward and Spencer for us, their brothers, and they own and run the farm together.
And so this is going to be at their farm. Is it in a barn or is it outside? Where is this?
It will probably be out. So the breakfast will be outside. They have a tent they set up. And then
there will be children's activities, educational activities. They'll be, they have a little bit of
farmers market going on also there. Lots of things to see do and learn. And the hours of the
date first is June 28th. That's a Saturday. Correct. 7 to 11. Mm-hmm. And what do you make it like
five in the morning like the real farms when people get up at five in the morning? That would be
nice. Give us the menu. Okay. We have scrambled eggs, plain or we have them with ham, sausage,
milk, ice cream, of course, it's dairy breakfast. There's tractors to see. They'll have machinery
set out for people to look at. Children's games, a petting zoo, that the 4-H and FFA local
students put on live music and just a lot of fun to come out to the country and see a real working
dairy farm. I love to watch the machines that make the scrambled eggs because they don't have a
little chef with a little pan like you go to an expensive restaurant and he's making them.
This is a huge thing and it just keeps churning around in circles and making those scrambled eggs.
They sprinkle the ham in there and it's really good. Yes, it is. It's really good. We have
we have a good breakfast. Now it's $10 each. Now kids five and old kids, children five years old
and under are free. Yes. Because they don't eat a lot. No. I did one of those five years old,
but these kids don't today. $10 to get in. Now we were talking, I was using a story before
we got on the air. If you went to Disneyland and got the Princess Breakfast, how much was that?
$5? What does it say? $900 and some odd dollars here. I got the story here somewhere. This was
amazing. It was, yeah, here it is. Family of five had breakfast at Disneyland and the bill was
$937 and it was basically scrambled egg breakfast but they had lobster rolls. That's probably
kicked the price up. For kids, it was just eggs, waffles and macaroni and cheese. The bill was
$937.65. Makes his breakfast look kind of cheap, doesn't it? Yes, our breakfast is a much better
deal and it's going to be very tasty and yeah, a lot of good things to eat. And you don't have
some big overgrown mouse bothering you while you're eating. No, that's good. Okay, so
you grew up on a farm. Yes, it's been a family farm all your life. And it was in the same location
all your life. So your local yoke? Yes, yeah, you mean the shawl dairy farm? Shawl dairy farm started
in 1848. And so it's been passed down from father to son and then when my father-in-law
and mother-in-law purchased the farm, they purchased it from great Aunt Mabel. So it went from
actually from an aunt to a niece. It's sort of still in the family line just sort of jumped there.
And what do they do? What the livestock? We have a dairy farm. A dairy farm. And the shawl dairy
farm, we have a we have dairy cows and we're milking around 300 cows right now. Our son and our
daughter-in-law are and they're doing good. When you go to the frost farm, they're milking 650 cows
right now. But they have those machines, they hook up. Yes, yes, automatic cows, automatic
machines. That's the old days back when Aunt Mabel owned it. Remember, they've had a milk each cow,
that must have been all day. Well, that's why they only milked about 10.
I mean, that had to be a major process to do that. Now they just hook it up in kind of the cows like
it. I don't know. Well, it leaves the pressure and we have automatic takeoffs on our machines. So
when they're done milking, they automatically come off and the cow can go back and walk around,
eat and drink. Let's talk about you because I'm a city boy. I grew up in a city. When you woke
up in the morning, you had chores to do on the farm? There were chores to do, but I ended up in
the house. I didn't have to go outside much. We had brothers. I had an older sister and my
dad farmed with my uncle. And so I had some cousins and my older sister. They helped outside
more than I did. You know, there was a farm on Long Island. Then it's not there anymore. This
was the end of the farms and the Guido Folglia owned it. And I remember once or twice a year,
he and his wife and kids hosted this big dinner for relatives and we were allowed to come because
my father was close friends with him. And we used to go into the fields. He said, go get some corn.
And we used to pick the corn off the stocks and make them in and bring them in and be
cleaned them up. And they roasted them and it was pretty good. I enjoyed doing that. That's about
as much farming as I ever went into. They didn't have animals. They just had fields. They plowed.
But I remember running through these fields and I couldn't, well, I was 1964. The Beatles just come
out. I was 10 years old. I couldn't believe how high these things were and how you can get lost
in these fields. Oh, yes. Because we're running through them now. It's just housing there now. They
get rid of the farm. But I mean, it was really fun doing that for a day. I couldn't imagine doing it
every single day. But then it becomes work. Yeah. For a 10 year old, it was fun doing it for one day.
Because I remember we ran in the house. The Beatles were on the Ed Sullivan show that night.
Oh, so I remember the exact, the exact date that we were doing this and everybody ran
in the house to watch the Beatles and we went back outside again and it got more food.
All right. So let me just quick review here. This is breakfast on the farm. It's been going on
for about 10 years. Yes. And you choose a different farm every year. And this year it's the
frost farm. And I'm going to give you the, the address here. But you can get this is on,
so could they go online to get this address? You can go online. You can go on Facebook. You can go
to a scene. It's recene CO breakfast dot com. Racine County CEO breakfast dot com. That's good.
And the address is 32,000 3200 zero bridge drive in Waterford. You say it's by Tishigan though.
Yes, it's going out. Waterford into Tishigan. Quick review case you're just tuning in breakfast on
the farm. The Racine County breakfast on the farm, the annual event to 28th. It's a Saturday,
this Saturday, right? Yeah, serving seven to 11 in the morning. Eggs, sausage, milk, ice cream.
There's tractors to see children's games, a petting zoo and the life music and more tickets are
$10 each five and older. Excuse me, five years old and under our, oh, here's the address right here.
Our free Racine CO breakfast dot com, which ran in front of my face. I grew up on the farm. I
would have known that. And this is the frost farm. How far in advance do they have to get ready for
this? Well, they usually a year in advance, we know who it's going to be. And then they can start
thinking about it, planning ahead because they have to make sure they have a field for the cars
to park on. So you've got to make sure that field that's going to be closest to the barn is not
a cornfield right now that you can plant on. So it's planning ahead thinking about what crop you're
going to have there and all that type of thing. Sounds like fun. I'm going to try to make it out again
this year. I made it to last year when I try to make it out this year. See, I'm hungry now.
And I thought when Kathy comes in, she's going to come with like a big tin of scrambled eggs and
sausage, just like, you know, a sample case, but she didn't came in with some papers.
No, I came in ready to talk. Well, that's good. And we're going to keep reminding people as we
get closer to the weekend. Thank you. Because there are people tuning in and out. We will podcast this
and people will be able to hear it starting tonight or tomorrow morning. And they can
you know, listen back and say, Oh, breakfast on the farm. We'll just have to miss that. I was
sleeping late on Monday. I skipped work that day. So we're going to take care of this for you.
And I hope to see you out there. And then now you are running the show. How does this work?
No, there's a committee that runs this. My job is just advertising.
Well, that's good. Thank you, Kathy. Everybody has to have a job. And that's mine. But
there are people that run it and make sure that the tents are ordered, the foods order.
We have volunteers in place because it's run by volunteers that make the eggs serve the
food, do the tents, do the setup, do the cleanup, do the takedown. A lot of 4-H and FFA clubs are in
now. That's good. Yeah. So it's a lot of community activity. Thanks much for coming in.
Thank you for having me. I know it's a very schlepped coming in with that hour of the
morning, but I do appreciate it. Thank you. Kathy Shaw from breakfast on the farm this Saturday
at Frost Farms at 32,000 breads drive in Waterford. Actually, it's in Michigan, but that's
Waterford is the the mailing address.
