My family and I went to the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum on Saturday 3/19/22. Its essentially a large barn with farm animals, and an interactive museum section, that demonstrates where we get our food, how its processed, and how its stored. Some of the things that I worry about when taking my family out, is cost of tickets, since there are five of us (even though today we are four - still), and if everyone of each age will enjoy something about it. It isn’t easy to please an adult, a teenager, a school aged child, and a preschooler all at the same time. I thought that this museum would appeal to my kids because there are animals, and it would appeal to me, because I am always looking for ways to be self sufficient.
First Impression
I bought tickets online in advance, and thank goodness I did. When we arrived, I found out that they only sell tickets online, and not at the admission stand. A family ticket cost about $35. There was no wait to get in, and the crowds were fairly low. It is an explore at your own pace, kind of a barn museum. Staff that was on site were all pleasant. A lot of families were there, and it seems to be very popular with little kids. Considering the amount of animals on site, this place was immaculately clean. There were hand washing stations at every entrance.
Museum Experience
This museum has several different sections, in different buildings. The first building we entered had numerous animals, and many babies. The animals included chickens, ducks, cows, donkeys, rabbits, and alpacas.
Then we came to an outdoor playground area. Its still very snowy, cold and wet at this time of year, so we didn't spend an abundant time on the playground.
The next building we entered was a museum about where food comes from, and the process it goes through before it hits the grocery store. This was a really cool exhibit, with a lot of hands on activities. The focus seemed to be on oil, honey, soil, compost, and seed germination.
The next section was about food preservation. To me this was the most exciting. You got to see exhibits about how humans have learned to preserve food throughout the ages. There were exhibitions of root cellars, ice boxes, older refrigerators, to modern kitchens. There was also a wealth of information on home and commercial canning.
The final building we explored had pigs, sheep, rabbits, and cows. So many cows. Baby calves, milking cows, dry cows... all the cows. And Hercules - the male, presumably responsible for many of the baby calves.
We spent about an hour at the museum. If my kids weren't twitchy and going in three separate directions at once, I could have easily spent twice as long there.
Pros and Cons
Pros - Inexpensive day out, Animals, & museum that is interactive
Cons - Its mostly outside, or in barns, so weather can effect your experience.
Overall Museum Rating
In case you are not aware of my rating scale, let me elaborate, because I don’t want it to seem harsh. I rate 1-5 stars. If you ever have reviews at your job on their 1-5 scale, its kind of like that.
1 star = falls below standards
2 stars= needs improvement, falls short of expectations
3 stars = meets expectations
4 stars = exceeds expectations
5 stars = entirely another category of awesome – way above target.
So essentially 3 stars is good, rather than mediocre.
Category | Rating |
Welcome on Arrival | 3 |
Length of wait | 4 |
Appearance, Crowd, Cleanliness | 4 |
Interest | 4 |
Duration | 3 |
Kid Friendliness | 4 |
Price | 4 |
Overall Rating | 3.71 |
Overall rating 3.71. This was definitely a cute little afternoon outing, that I would recommend to anyone with kids, or anyone who is interested in where our food comes from. I thought it was really cool.
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