One of our favorite places to go as a family on Thursday evenings is SuperFarm at Superstition Farm in East Mesa.
Superstition Farm is one of the local dairy farms here in the East Valley. They offer school tours during the week (Tuesday through Friday with reservations), the farm market on Thursday evenings (4:30pm to 7:30pm), and open tours to the public on Saturday mornings (10am and 12pm).
Farm Tours
I personally have not done a school tour or the Saturday morning tours, but, with the paid fee, you get:
Learning in the classroom (called Moo-University); a leisurely, informative ride around the dairy on our tractor-pulled, guided hayride; how to properly hand feed some of our rescue animals which may include goats, sheep, a donkey, a miniature horse & more; how to hold one of our favorite chickens; and enjoy a cup of flavored milk from our Milk Bar (that has 13 exotic flavors to choose from!)
SuperFarm Market
We have been to the SuperFarm Market a few times. In fact, this last time had to be the most memorable experience yet!
Minutes prior to our arrival, a baby calf had been born. Others were there to witness the actual birth that we had just barely missed, but we did get to watch the newborn calf be cleaned by mommy.
(Forgive the pictures – they were taken on my cell phone.)
It was hard to walk away but we had shopping to do!
The SuperFarm Market offers handmade and homemade products for purchase. Personally, I love going for the local honey.
Right now, they are seeking more vendors, but are trying to get back to offering veggies & fruits, chicken, fresh-baked breads, eggs, salsa, fudge, cupcakes, freezer jam, desserts, and more.
They do, however, sell farm fresh milk, eggs, butter, cheeses, and ice cream in the SuperFarm store (along with novelty items).
Food trucks also visit on Thursday evenings and fire up their grills to offer dinner for the family during Market nights.
Thursday evenings are free admission and include a petting zoo, $1 hayrides & $1 feed for the petting zoo.
Educational, guided hayride
We finally did the hayride and I highly recommend that if you go to the farm for no other reason – you should go for the hayride.
The hayride is tractor pulled with a guide. It pulls you throughout the farm area and you learn about the cows (they have 1000 cows on the property) and how they get milk.
As an adult, I found the hayride to be incredibly educational and the kids loved seeing all the different cows and learning about them (my kids are 8, 6, and 1. The big kids learned, the toddler just enjoyed the ride!)
At the end of our fun, we stopped by to check on the calf one more time.
We got to see the baby being bottle fed by one of the workers at the farm.
During our hayride we were informed that the calves will be vaccinated and removed from their mothers 4-5 hours after birth as they are born with no immunity.
We watched the calf walk along with some of the adult cows watching over it before we left.
It really is one of our favorite places to go as a family and is full of experience and education.
Superstition Farm is located on the NW corner of S. Hawes Road and Elliott Road, in Mesa, Arizona. You can reach them by phone at (480) 826-7979 or find their email address at their website.
