A Tour Through Agritainment at Phillips Farm with Michael Phillips

Join us as we explore the exciting world of agritourism and agritainment with Michael Phillips from Phillips Farm. Discover the rich history and transformation of this fourth-generation farm located in Cary, North Carolina. From a corn maze that outsmarts GPS systems to spine-chilling haunted trails, Phillips Farm offers year-round thrills for the whole family. Learn about their popular seasonal events, including the intense Haunted Farm nights and the upcoming country Christmas celebrations. Michael discusses the creative processes behind their events, the importance of supporting local farms, and the challenges they face in maintaining their agricultural heritage. Whether you're a thrill-seeker or looking for family-friendly fun, Phillips Farm has something for everyone.

00:00 Welcome to Philips Farm: Agritourism Adventure
01:22 The History of Philips Farm
02:29 Transition to Agritourism
04:31 Unique Attractions and Activities
06:22 The Famous Corn Maze
09:36 Challenges Facing Local Farms
13:57 Exciting Events at Philips Farm
14:34 The Haunted Farm Experience
17:57 The Haunted Farm Crew
18:44 Makeup and Costumes
21:03 Hiring and Staff
22:21 Year-Round Events
23:28 Christmas Season Preparations
25:37 Challenges and Rewards
27:17 Lightning Round Questions
29:40 Where to Find More Information

Creators and Guests

Host

Melissa

Host of What's Up, Wake + social media manager + writer + travel editor

What is What’s Up, Wake?

What’s Up, Wake covers the people, places, restaurants, and events of Wake County, North Carolina. Through conversations with local personalities from business owners to town staff and influencers to volunteers, we’ll take a closer look at what makes Wake County an outstanding place to live. Presented by Cherokee Media Group, the publishers of local lifestyle magazines Cary Magazine, Wake Living, and Main & Broad, What’s Up, Wake covers news and happenings in Raleigh, Cary, Morrisville, Apex, Holly Springs, Fuquay-Varina, and Wake Forest.

35 What's Up Wake Phillips Farm
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[00:00:00]

Melissa: If you think a farm as just about tractors and hay bales, think again. Philips farm and C has turned agritourism into adventure with everything from a corn maze that might just outsmart your GPS to haunted trails that guarantee goosebumps. I'm sitting down with the Philips behind the farm to find out what it takes to run the place that keeps the community [00:01:00] entertained all year long.

It is the triangle's. Go-to farm for thrills, chills, and a whole lot of fun. Welcome to What's Up, wake Michael Phillips of Phillips Farm.

Michael Phillips: Hello. Thank you for having me.

Melissa: Thank you so much for coming. I, I am, I feel like I'm beating a dead horse when I talk about how much I love local farms and, and agriculture in North Carolina.

I would love for you to tell us about the history of Philips farm.

Michael Phillips: All right, well, I'm the fourth generation on the property. My great grandfather, well, let me start over. So Carpenter is the community that we're in. It's a small little, yeah, it was a little rural farm. Community

Melissa: carpenter Pond Road. Right?

Is that what it is?

Michael Phillips: Well, it's uh. It's just Carpenter is the name of the little town. The town. So there's numerous, there's, there's, there's, um, and the Carpenter family has the general store and everything right there near our property.

Melissa: Oh, I didn't realize that. Mm-hmm.

Michael Phillips: So we actually still go to the general store to get stuff.

But anyways, [00:02:00] I'm the fourth generation on the property, but my great-grandfather. Bought the land that we're on now from one of the carpenters. Oh, in, I think it's the, it was the mid 18 hundreds in that time period. Mm-hmm. Or late 18 hundreds. So that's kind of, that's some of the history on the farm.

There's a lot more to it, but I think it would take forever if we had to talk just about the history of the farm.

Melissa: Well, I can imagine that it didn't start out as what it looks like today. Has the farm always been focused on agritourism? I mean, I, I find, find it kind of to be a newer term and I even learned a term on your website, it was called Agri.

Yep. Agri Tainment. So how, when did that version of the farm develop and what did the farm used to be?

Michael Phillips: Okay, so I started the entertainment. What, what we're calling it, of what I've called it, more or less, it's adventure and everything else. I started that in [00:03:00] 2009.

Melissa: Mm-hmm. 2008

Michael Phillips: or oh nine. It's been so long now.

I can't, I can't even remember. But it just started as a, you know, the little corn maze and like a tiny park and everything else. And I was doing some rides here and there on the side. I had two other jobs, but. Before that it was just a full blown tobacco farm. We did.

Melissa: Oh, it was tobacco. Okay. Yeah. That whole

Michael Phillips: community out there in that area was tobacco farms.

There were soybeans on a lot of areas. We did a lot of hay, a lot of straw, alfalfa strawberries were on the property for a long time mm-hmm. Before everything started. So. We kinda had a mixture of everything. We did firewood on our grandfather's property that was not even a mile away. So we, we had of a, had a lot going on out there, but most of it was agriculture.

And then once, once the agriculture kind of fizzled out, and the tobacco buyout happened in the late nineties, I believe it was. My dad retired then. And so the property was just sort of, uh. It was sitting there, we were still doing some, I would [00:04:00] say hobby farming.

Melissa: Mm-hmm.

Michael Phillips: At the time my father, my, my dad was, and then, um, I was in college and playing football at Campbell and decided that, uh, this college wasn't for me.

I wanted to go to work and came back and my dad mentioned a train at some other farm and some people coming out on the farm, like inviting the public out and. That's all it took. You know, I was riding right then and that's when it, that's when I dove after it and went all, went all in on that.

Melissa: And you guys host a lot of events that we're gonna get to later, but you also have field trips, like school groups mm-hmm.

And everything that comes out there. I know I've been out there with my kids when they were in elementary school. I do know that there are other farms in our area. All amazing, all unique. What makes yours stand out and yours different from other farms?

Michael Phillips: Well, we're always, always [00:05:00] adding, so if you come out even from season to season.

Most likely we, you're gonna see that something is different. There's another activity. This sign has been created just anywhere from just decor all the way up to actual structures and activities and everything else that leads into it. And also we, I really channel the fact that I don't want the parents to pay and then sit.

So I, if everyone comes in, I want activities that I can look at when I build, or me and my business partner build, or our family built. I want it to be like, all right, my dad could participate with that next to me, next to his grandchildren. So I always want to have that in mind. So I never want it to be, or if it's entertaining, I want it to be.

Appropriately entertaining all the way down the board.

Melissa: Yeah,

Michael Phillips: so that's, that's one thing is we're constantly changing, building, getting better, and I, I never wanna lose [00:06:00] focus on the whole core of the family being able to do activities and fun things. Besides, you know, like today everyone's sitting down watching a movie or getting on their cell phones, so

Melissa: yeah, that's, yeah, that's, it is, it's definitely one of my favorite places to go in town.

That, that is you know, get away from the screen mm-hmm. Type of places. . Let's talk about the corn maze. Okay. Which I, I'm laughing because I I try to avoid, avoid corn mazes because I know I'm gonna get lost in the corn maze. Yeah. I can't hardly follow, uh I, I still call it MapQuest. I'm, mm-hmm.

I'm still way back in the early two thousands, but I, I can't even follow a map nonetheless, find my way out of a corn maze. How do you design it? Do you draw it out on paper? Is this something that changes every year or once you like fix it, it's. It's set.

Michael Phillips: Yeah. So if you can, Ima the best way I try to explain it is if you were to get graph paper out [00:07:00] with the lines, what, 'cause that's how, how you plant the corn.

You plant, you don't just plant it in a row, you plant it in rows one way and then that plant it 90 degrees opposite the other way. So that creates, creates. So it's a

Melissa: checkerboard already. Correct.

Michael Phillips: And that creates the, the, the thickness of the maze too. So it's not just a few rows. 'cause if it was just planted in single rows, you could walk down any of them.

So then you take that and you can count your rows off. And so each field just essentially turns into a large piece of graph paper.

Melissa: Mm-hmm.

Michael Phillips: And then once you go, then each box represents just like when you did when you were little or in school. You fill the boxes up and you connect them, and that makes a path slash picture.

And so we, we've actually been fortunate enough to have people sponsor. Corn maze and have their logo put in it because first of all, they can come and advertise at the farm. And secondly, we're right next to rdu. So planes fly over constantly.

Melissa: Oh, yeah. Yeah. So I,

Michael Phillips: [00:08:00] I always have to remind people, it's like a billboard in the sky when, when you fly in, that's an awesome idea.

Yeah. So people look down and can see advertisement and everything else for, you know, smaller businesses and people that we work with. That's how, that's how you get the path and it's planted each year and it's recut every year.

Melissa: Have you ever gotten lost in your own corn base? No.

Michael Phillips: Oh, come on. No, I know when I'm on that property, I know exactly what's north, southeast, and west.

Yeah. Which way ahead. But, um, it's, it's challenging to, to an extent for someone who's never really come there before. Mm-hmm. And just walking into a cornfield, but we try not to make it. Intense. We try to make it fun. So it's questions get you through and you know, the whole, like I said, the whole family can participate and work their way through the, through the corn maze.

Melissa: Have you ever had a guest truly get lost in the corn maze and you have to go get them

Michael Phillips: out? Yeah, so we have a, that would probably be me. Yeah, so we have a giant tower right out there in between the field [00:09:00] that we always have a staff person located in, and all of our staff members have radios and then we give you like a six foot flag.

So it's like a, it's like six, it's like a six foot, uh, pole with a little triangular flag on the top. Mm-hmm. We just say if something happens or you're just tired of it or you just want to get outta there, like just wave that flag up and down, like hold it up high and wave it and then we'll radio, we'll see it, we'll radio it, and that's a signal for us to come get you and get you outta there.

And that happens quite often.

Melissa: I read something that truly astounded me. It said that North Carolina is the second in the nation for projected loss of farmland to development only behind Texas. As a farm owner yourself, how would you say we can stop this trend of losing our farmland and, and everything getting developed?

I mean, we're, I, I guess it makes sense to [00:10:00] a certain extent because so many people are moving to North Carolina, so naturally these people need to a place to live and, and developers are coming in. But how, how do you think we can try to stop the trend of it happening at such a fast pace?

Michael Phillips: One thing you know, always it, it's preached around in North Carolina agriculture is, is buying local from farms.

Because if you, if you were to think about it in this aspect, I know Cary is not like a farming town. You wouldn't think of it as that at all. But at, on the outskirts it was, it was covered everywhere. And then. Now with the whole buy local thing, it's, it's kinda hard for people to bring in what they need to bring in.

Especially with, I mean, I passed probably, I'm 20 minutes away from here. I passed 15 grocery stores coming

Melissa: in. Mm-hmm.

Michael Phillips: And. It's also hard for farms. Like in the situation that I was in, I knew that I had to do [00:11:00] the agri aspect. I knew I couldn't come home, I wasn't gonna be able to just grow corn.

Melissa: Mm-hmm. Or

Michael Phillips: just grow something.

'cause in years past, you had a high rate or a better rate of profit on, you know, numerous crops and tobacco being one of them, things like that. You know, 30, 40 years ago. But now. If you raise a, a field full of peas and you pay, you know, five people to pick 'em, or you actually have a picker and you go out there and everything else, you're, you're, you're ready to return so small.

So I think, I think really is if we can pop up with more, more little country stores and more little additions and more things that are just local roadside stands, stuff like that I, that could really help out farms to where they could get into the community without it being such a. Such a hard, I would say, I would say economic impact on, Hey, I gotta go get this building and start this, or I gotta go do this and [00:12:00] start that.

So I'm thinking smaller towns, kinda like C and everybody else, if they were able to have that window for small farms or small businesses to come in and have. Stands or have small shops

Melissa: or like the general store you mentioned? Mm-hmm.

Michael Phillips: Yep. Or, or small general stores, places to where, kinda like the food truck aspect.

But if you had small stands like that, I think that could help that. That would help tremendously because the amount of waste, crop waste that goes on that I see from year to year, just friends who I know that are farming is, is unbelievable and stuff they just have to throw away in general. And it's just people aren't buying because they don't, they, they don't know where to buy from.

So I think that's one of the, the major root causes is there's, there's farms that are there that can make it, but it's so hard for them to get an impact or a footprint somewhere for them to sell their products.

Melissa: Yeah. [00:13:00] I want to transition [00:14:00] over to talking about all the events that you guys put on every year.

You are, you are known for your events. Mm-hmm. At least that's what I know you guys for. My personal favorite month is coming up at Phillips Farm, which I think has already technically started for you guys. October you, you start what, mid-September with, with ma'am? Haunted farm? Yes.

Michael Phillips: Started, yeah, we started last weekend and then, and then this weekend we'll start.

We've got an event this weekend and then all of our haunted starts this weekend as well.

Melissa: Let's talk about the haunted farm. How did the haunted farm come to be? Have you always really liked the Halloween season?

Michael Phillips: Well, it's funny how it came to be actually. So of course it was in the first year. I'm, I'm 19 or 20, and the business started off, it was super slow.

I was sitting there panicking 'cause I had like some minute loan out, but I thought it was like the most money in the world. Mm-hmm. At, at the time being [00:15:00] 19, I'm like, oh my gosh, you're going to take my life away if I Yeah. If I don't pay back this eight grand, grand or something. Scary. Yeah. The

Melissa: risk involved with starting anything like that, it's very scary.

And

Michael Phillips: so I was running with it and then, uh, we all decided like, what if we just, what if we did haunted? We could get, like, that would attract some younger folks in and we could get some people coming through here. So it was like a last minute thing in year one, and now it has, it has turned into it. It, it's unbelievable.

I'm, I'm, what

Melissa: year are you on this year for the Haunted Farm? Oh,

Michael Phillips: that's, uh, 16 or 17 mm. I haven't even thought about it. Really? Yeah. Yeah. So we're. We're year? Yes. No, year 18 actually.

Melissa: Okay. Yeah. So what I, I know you guys try to mix it up every year or add, add some new, new things every year for the haunted farm.

What is new this year?

Michael Phillips: Um, we actually have two new haunted houses and we [00:16:00] built those. One is the. It's Philips Farm's butcher shop. And then the other one is just, is, is literally like a house. So when you walk in and it wouldn't be like an old farmhouse. And we also still have the big top terra is what we call it, which is a clown house.

We just converted, you know, old tobacco barns and everything else. These

Melissa: are ex existing buildings, correct? Yeah. Okay. So

Michael Phillips: they've been there and then we just went in and revamped 'em completely. They've already had power and everything else in 'em. We just kind of stripped 'em down and made and brought in state-of-the-art stuff.

We literally travel, you know, to transworld hot shows in St. Louis. So I took my whole team up there and we went through and we had a, a consultant come in who does theme parks, and we ended up knowing him from years ago, and he came in and helped us and we're talking audio smells, lighting, pneumatic systems, and, you know, custom, you know, custom building.

Everything else, all the way down to the concrete floor and everything else. We've, we pretty much revamped from the ground up.

Melissa: [00:17:00] How do you balance

making the thrill seekers happy, but also not scaring the beebies out of wimps? I don't know how else to say that. And I, I fall into the WIMP category.

Michael Phillips: Um, well, we try to bring an intensity, but we also try to bring it, you know, kind of a soft heart about it. Mm-hmm. So it's, it's fun, but it's not something I'm like.

We have to do this or you have to do this. So my actors, the folks that work with me, we always can kind of say like, Hey, if you can tell that person's having fun and they're scared, yeah, go with it. Go a go. Go with 'em. Go after 'em. But if you can see like someone's just all right. Mom's gotta come pick me up or I'm just leaving.

Mm-hmm. Like, like back off and leave that person alone. Yeah. So we, we try to have, so it's really

Melissa: an individual case mm-hmm. That just knowing how, how well the person's tolerating Correct. What's going on. And

Michael Phillips: we have so many people working too. Uh, we usually have anywhere from [00:18:00] slow, slow times to 30 to 90 people working.

Mm-hmm. So, but haunted is. We have a really good crew with a lot of people that have coming back, so we have our, what we call roamers, so they're just roaming the park when people are waiting in line or when you get out of the, come from the ticket booth, or even when you're waiting in line to get tickets.

They're a. Oh,

Melissa: they're ready. They're ready. They're ready to scare you.

Michael Phillips: They're already entertaining and doing everything they need to do. So they,

Melissa: and really, they don't even, most of, most of them don't even have to do anything to particularly scare you. It's just looking at them. You're standing out in a dark farm and you, you see these and they have incredible makeup in costumes.

Mm-hmm. Um, so I, I do wanna know about the makeup and costumes part of, of what. What you guys do, what does an average day look like during the haunted farm season? Do people come and [00:19:00] do their, their makeup and costumes on site or do they show up? Like, are they driving in their car looking, looking like a zombie?

Michael Phillips: Some are. It, it's kind of, it's kind of half and half. So we've got some that are new that are just getting into it, that will come and kind of do their decorate. They, they're, I would say, their makeup and everything there for their part. So some, some we have in certain, like, this is where you're gonna be working for this, so you need to kind of dress this part.

Mm-hmm. When you get in, you can change your makeup here or there. Are they

Melissa: in charge of their own costumes and makeup? Or do you

Michael Phillips: I provide, do you let them know? I provide the makeup. Okay. And then I'll, I let a lot of 'em have freedom that they want. Oh. 'cause most of them are pretty. Pretty creative and they're really into it.

Mm-hmm. So I don't want to just come in and just like, no, I don't, you're not doing that, you're doing this.

Melissa: Yeah.

Michael Phillips: So with the Now, I will incorporate, like this year we have such, such a state-of-the-art facility that we, that we revamped. [00:20:00] Now I'm kind of, I'm intrigued with, all right, I want some, some to act.

Mm. So I want some to be. Go with the theme of the house per se. So when you walk into the first building, it leads you into something nice and clean and clean looking. So if you're gonna be that person, I kind of want you to be in this outfit if you can, or the next person's a butcher. In the butcher shop.

I've got leather. Like leather, um, vest and stuff like that. So I want you to, the

Melissa: coveralls and all that. Yeah. I want

Michael Phillips: you to throw this on and then cover yourself up with, with this, this, and this. But you can have freedom kind of on what, beyond that? Yeah. You just kind of gotta look the part. And then a lot of the roamers will go with like one of the clown houses.

So we have numerous wild looking clowns with different, different, uh, props in their hands and stuff like that, that we, that we've picked up for 'em. Jump, little jump scare things. Mm-hmm. You know? Fun stuff that we can entertain the crowd while they're waiting in line to go into the haunts Ultimately. But, um, I give a lot of freedom for that.

So [00:21:00] especially the roamers, a lot of 'em, them are super creative.

Melissa: Yeah. Who are the people that you hire for this? I, I used to assume it was just like local high school students and, and stuff like that, but yeah, we,

Michael Phillips: we have all, they're quite good. Yeah, we have, it's across the board, so, I mean, we have local high school students.

I know a lady that works at SaaS and she's like, Hey, one of my coworkers came with his son and they both signed up because they, they were excited to work so. I think it's, we don't really say no to anyone who comes in as long as we can see that they have that, that intensity that Yeah. Like they really want to scare and they'll be creative in it.

Melissa: Yeah. That, that spark of creativity. Mm-hmm. You can definitely sense that

Michael Phillips: we have sent people home in certain aspects where they're just out there like boo or you know, like stuff like that. I'm like, that's just, that's not who we are. That's not gonna work for us. Like, I appreciate you doing that, but. You know, about 99% of the time, everyone who comes out wants to be there and they want to do their job, and they're,

Melissa: they're having a lot of fun.

Correct. Not just there for a paycheck. You [00:22:00] can, you can definitely tell that now. It takes a lot of set up and a lot of extra staff to pull off all these events. It sounds to me like you have the most people during the haunted farm type of season. Mm-hmm. But you guys have events all year round. So outside of haunted farm season, what comes next?

Do you have holiday events coming up and then things in the spring?

Michael Phillips: Yeah, so our Christmas season usually is, has been for years and years. I worked at, since I worked it when I was 10, we've always sold Christmas trees. As long as I can remember. And that was on a different part of the property. So we, once we sold that property years ago, or my dad and his brother sold it, that transferred back to our location, um, on the farm.

So we've been selling lots of Christmas trees and we've slowly worked that into a Christmas [00:23:00] market. Slowly worked that into some small events that were going on when we did that, where we'd have live music and we have everything. Now we've got. Last year we had the Christmas market. We had numerous of them.

We had a small little car show drive in. We had Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus numerous weekends. Um, we do wine and wreath making classes, and we also have, you know, we serve many donuts and we all have fire pits and snow, snow making machines and everything else. But, uh, we're intensifying that greatly this year and we're gonna call it a country Christmas.

And so we'll have. Our whole entire fun park, which is around, I'd say seven, eight acres just inside the fence. Um, we're gonna have that, every single building is gonna have the old style, like, like the bigger white bulb on it. Mm-hmm.

Melissa: Just

Michael Phillips: like you would see, like on like at country roads when I was growing up.

Yeah. So every single building that we have, which is [00:24:00] a lot, we've got probably 25 or 30 buildings. Mm-hmm. We're gonna have those on the A-frames going up and down on 'em. So pretty, pretty much everything we'll have in the fun park is gonna have like beautiful lights on it. And we will have a C shows. So you'll open at

Melissa: night too?

Correct. So you can enjoy the lights and all that, correct? Yeah. Okay.

Michael Phillips: So the, what that will look like is you pull into the parking lot. Our parking lot is usually our parking lot's, like 15 acres. We mark off a big section. We'll have our Christmas trees there. You'll still walk in the same way, like we have the big walking pass.

Then you would purchase a ticket to go across the street. That ticket's gonna include hot chocolate per person, a s'mores kit per person. We'll have the fire pits over there. We're building a, what we're gonna call like an elf village so the kids can play in it. And so we'll have like eight to 10 different buildings that mimic like, you know, have presents in there that they can wrap or they'll have, you know, old style tools that they can drill and make.

Mm-hmm. Like the wooden toys if they want to. Just stuff like that they can experience that the kids can have while they're waiting. [00:25:00] For their turn to walk through. 'cause it's gonna be a walkthrough light show, so it'll be hands-on. We'll have little shows to go with it as well, where the lights, you know, move to the different music.

We'll have different projector set ups, stuff like that. And

Melissa: you said this is all new this year? Correct.

Michael Phillips: Okay. Yeah. So for 2025, that's new. That'll start a Black Friday weekend and then continue on until the weekend before Christmas.

Melissa: So you really have less than a month turnaround between haunted farm and then black.

You said Black Friday it'll start for the, the Christmas season. Correct. That's, that's a, a big undertaking.

Michael Phillips: Yeah, we're used to that. And I always joke with everyone, I was like, if, if me and my business partner aren't really. Putting stuff on us to just stress us a little bit, then we're not doing what we need to be doing.

Mm-hmm. And that's, that's just how, that's how we thrive, is getting stuff done, getting it ready, not last minute, but working our butts off to get it to where it needs to be, and then opening it up and seeing it come [00:26:00] to life. And we just we're, we're very detail oriented on what we do. We don't. Everything needs to be nice and neat and clean.

It's not kinda like your typical, atypical farm with what we do. You walk out, it smells like you know animals. Mm-hmm. There's things are kind of like old in certain spots. I like everything. We have to be bright, clean, welcoming, and just each season change into its own shape or form of imagination that we kind of have a feel for.

And then just. Just run with it as hard as we can, as long as we can.

Melissa: And it sounds like something that really keeps you young at heart, because you're always trying to think of what you would've liked to have gone to mm-hmm. When you were a child, a teenager, like you said, every age. Yeah. Because there's something for every age, but that keeps you young.

Michael Phillips: Yep. It's, it's fun doing it. I mean, it is stressful working.

Melissa: Mm-hmm.

Michael Phillips: Working, you know, once we hit this season, like starting this weekend, it's usually, you know, 16, 17 hour days. [00:27:00] You know, four days a week or five days a week, running those hours. So there's a lot to do that, uh, that kind of weighs into the, keeps me young creating it, and then when I have to run it, it's like, whew.

Melissa: Yeah.

Michael Phillips: It's like, all right.

Melissa: That's when you start feeling your age. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. It is time for our, what's up Roundup, where I ask a lightning round series of questions before we go. If you could choose one farm animal to be your farm's mascot. Which one would it be and why?

Michael Phillips: Clydesdale.

Melissa: Oh, good answer.

Michael Phillips: And. I've, I've always wanted a Clydesdale. I just thought they were beautiful and powerful. Mm-hmm. And then also, I always thought about, it would be really funny. I have a sense of humor. Most people don't know that, but it'd be really funny to be like gas stone and, uh, riding around on a, a Clydesdale, just like checking out employees, making sure people are doing what they need to do.

Just, just cruise in on a Clydesdale and just check, Hey, how are you doing? And I thought that would be hilarious. But

Melissa: [00:28:00] people would pay to see that.

Michael Phillips: Yes. Yeah. Yes. Be funny.

Melissa: What is your least favorite farm chore. Do y'all have animals by the way? Out there?

Michael Phillips: We have animals, but they're brought in from a, another farm, so we have animals every weekend.

Melissa: Okay. Sore. It's not like they're,

Michael Phillips: they're, we're not taking care of 'em. We used to for years. We do. I was thinking farm

Melissa: tour, maybe you don't wanna scoop poop. So I guess that's not one of 'em, that's

Michael Phillips: not really that bad either. I, we did that. I would probably say. I'd probably say if we had to do anything, it would be stacking hay.

If I have to move hay by hand. That's it. That's always annoying and it just never seems to go right, no matter what you do.

Melissa: It's not a clean job.

Michael Phillips: No.

Melissa: Yeah.

Michael Phillips: No

Melissa: hay gets everywhere. No. No matter how, how much you try to be clean about it. And if you had to dress up as a character other than Gaston. Yeah. For haunted farm nights and scare everyone.

What would you want to dress up as? [00:29:00]

Michael Phillips: Hmm. I would think probably something really creep like a, like a scarecrow that has some type of deformed pumpkin face. Mm. Something in that, something around that aspect.

Melissa: Mm-hmm. Do you ever dress up for I don't. The haunted farm, I don't. I

Michael Phillips: used to. I don't. You should. Uh, yeah.

And there's so much managing and, and things to go on. I just, I kind You probably

Melissa: sweat off all your makeup by the end of the night. Yeah. 'cause you're running around so much.

Michael Phillips: Yeah. But we used to do it, we used to chase everyone with chainsaws and all that good stuff back in the day. I've

Melissa: been chased by a chainsaw out there in years past.

Michael Phillips: But it's, it's, uh. It would be fun, but I have to, there's so many responsibilities that have to be taken care of and I don't wanna push those on anybody else? Yeah. Well

Melissa: tell everybody where we can find out more about Philips Farm, all the events that you have throughout the year and in, in particular, haunted farm.

Michael Phillips: Okay. Um, well, we've got two different social media pages. Philip Farms of Carry, and then Phillips Farms Haunted Farm on, uh, Instagram. They're also on Facebook as well. Our website is Phillips [00:30:00] farms of care.com and we also, we have plenty of ads going on out there for, you know, discount codes. But if you go to our website or our social media, we update that from season to season and you can see different, different events coming up.

And uh, what we have new pretty much each weekend 'cause we've got an event planned for every single weekend all the way to November 8th. I

Melissa: noticed that. Yeah, you guys are very busy. Yeah. Well good luck with everything. Thank you so much. And thank you so much for being here today. Yes

Michael Phillips: ma'am.

[00:31:00]