Local Farm Tour

In our area once a year 20 local farms open their doors and let people tour their farms.  We have been intending to do this tour for the last couple of years but for one reason or another we did not go.  This year however we purchased our "button" and took two days to meet, greet and shop from our local farmers... and I must say I'm delighted we did.

Of the twenty farms we visited 5.   It was a HOT weekend, so the first day I did not bring my camera but by day two I just had to bring it along as the kiddos were having so much fun and also needed a way to remember ideas for our own gardening efforts!

One of our first stops was a Worm Farm!  The boys thought this was absolutely super cool.  We have wanted to start composting... and have also had interest to add worms to that mix.  This was quite the process and the end result was beautiful lush goodness to add to your garden beds.  They sell these babies by the pound and we intend to head back.  Since it was our first stop on a 105 degree day~ hauling around worms in our van felt as though it wouldn't end well.

 The boys dug right in.  Anyone who knows my boys this is no surprise!  They got dirty and it was fun!  This particular farm ships their worms all over the place, so if you too are looking to add worms to your composting efforts or are interested in learning more you can check them out here:  http://www.earlybirdworms.com/

 Here we are sitting on the Happy Cow Creamery trolley.   This was for some reason a very emotional little trip through his farm for me.  I found myself thankful it was a bright day that required sunglasses as while Farmer Tom was sharing his story I started to get teary!  MJ really enjoyed this tour and this particular smile (though there were many) occurred when Farmer Tom was sharing his story.  To make a long story short - he was feeding his cows corn etc and at one point he was ready to loose his farm ~  milk quantity was really down...among some other problems.  He said that most people don't believe him but one day his cows knocked down his fences and started to graze on his fields and they only ate the tops of the grass.  After having the grass analyzed he found out that they were eating exactly what they needed to make the most nutritious milk (lab tested as well) and it also increased their milk supply! Anyway, I can only paraphrase but he said something to this degree. " I realized that they were eating as God created them to and I wasn't going to mess with it."  This was huge for MJ as he was recently reading labels while in the grocery store and picked up a jar of strawberry jam among the ingredients was red food colouring.  This upset him (as his brother has an allergy to it) and he said to me "Why mom?  God made the strawberries red ~ why do they have to add chemicals to this?"  When he heard Farmer Tom say God's way was perfect this was his smile of agreement. 

 Here Farmer Tom is sharing about his 12 Aprils grazing program.  It is such an amazing story!  If you want to check out his farm and read more about him click here:  http://www.happycowcreamery.com/

This was cute and also nice to know that in the future they are interested in getting up to milk a cow! 

Or a goat :)

So this last picture was product purchased on day one.  Though we do enjoy Happy Cow in our home the boys main milk is goats milk. We visited a goat farm which was just fantastic.  This trip was fun on so many levels.  Seeing the boys interact with the goats and watching my youngest who can't have cows milk dive into goat deliciousness at the sample table just brought a smile to my face.  We came home with a couple soft cheeses goat yogurt, milk, feta and FUDGE!  I think this little face says it all!  If you want to check out Split Creek Farm click here:  http://www.splitcreek.com/

This farm tour was such an incredible experience for our family.  Not only did we get to mingle with our local farmers and purchase fresh goodies but my boys had the awesome opportunity to see aside from our own little garden what farm to table is all about!  This is an annual event and we most definitely intend to tour again next year!