For the last seven years, farms, ranches, and other agriculture producers from across the province have opened their doors, gates and fields to visitors as part of the annual Open Farm Days — including many from the County of Barrhead.
However, not everyone who wanted to visit one of the local participating businesses could do so because they either didn’t or couldn’t drive.
This year, the county is taking away that barrier and is inviting people to take part in their first-ever Open Farm Days bus tour on Saturday, Aug. 17.
Tickets are $5 and are available at the county office. Due to the limited number of seats available, people are asked to reserve their seats by no later than 4:30 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 16.
“Open Farm Days is a provincial initiative and the whole idea behind it is to bring awareness to the agricultural industry because people, especially in the city don’t know a lot about where their food comes from and how it gets to their plate,” said County of Barrhead agriculture fieldman Kyle Meunier.
Meunier added that they decided to organize the bus tour following the record-breaking attendance they had for the County of Barrhead agricultural tour on July 30, where upwards of 150 people attended.
The bus leaves from De Herdt Gardens at 10 a.m. and first goes to Koberstein Family Farm, a mixed-operation which primarily focuses on raising cattle but grows their own feed for themselves and other producers.
The tour then returns to De Herdt Gardens where guests are free to purchase lunch from the coffee shop. People may also bring a bagged lunch.
At 1 p.m. the bus is back on the road to Mellowdale Dairy for an extensive tour of their operation before heading to Shady Lane Estate and West of the 5th Distillery. The tour ends between 4 and 5 p.m. back at De Herdt Gardens.
“We hope this will take off. School is out and it is on the weekend, so it is a good opportunity for people who weren’t able to go on the ASB tour to see what some of the people involved in the area’s agricultural industry are doing,” Meunier said.
“Barrhead is an agricultural community and people should know what families, farmers and producers are doing in their own back yard.”
