PolkFresh Farm Tour Saturday
What participants in Saturday’s second PolkFresh Farm Tour discover as they traverse the county visiting farmers markets, cattle farms and vineyards might surprise even those who have called Polk County home for quite some time.
“A meal from start to finish – a whole week’s meal plan – could be completed right here in the county,” said organizer Carol Lynn Jackson. “There are fruits, vegetables, herbs, meats – all grown right here. We want people to become familiar with how much we can do locally, instead of jumping on the interstate and exit shopping.”
This year’s farm tour will take place Saturday, June 25 from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
The tour offers opportunities to learn about small-scale agricultural initiatives in the community, Jackson said.
“We’re used to mega factory farms and the millions of acres and buying of a global food system,” she said. “We’re also used to what, at one time, looked like lower prices, but even now you can see the bump in gas prices in the cost of your foods in the grocery store. Plus, even if some of the local products are a little more expensive, when you take a local farm visit you see why – it’s hand produced.”
Kevin McCannon, owner of Maple Creek Farms where Texas Longhorns are raised, said the tour is all about encouraging a desire in consumers to know more about what they’re eating and how that affects their lives.
“You’re really starting to see it now – the education of what it takes to grow particular products and how they’re grown,” McCannon said. “There are a lot of things being put into our food that we shouldn’t be eating. We need to know what is in our food, because a lot of people think they know what they are eating but they don’t.”
McCannon said he thinks many would be shocked by the breadth of knowledge even a small farmer needs daily. He said visitors to his farm Saturday will learn about Longhorn cattle, of course, but also about conservation efforts, various types of beef from grass-fed to organic and about forestry.
Another stop along the tour is Leap Farm.
Owner Lee Mink hopes to instill a sense of passion regarding sustainable farming in visitors.
“The farming community here has been really revitalized over the last couple of years,” Mink said. “Our local farmers are going to become extremely important, I think, because as fuel costs go up it becomes evident in the cost of groceries. To support the local farmers gives you a lot of food security. We can feed ourselves locally as long as we get the support for those who grow the food.”
Mink and Leap Farm focus primarily on producing locally to sell locally. His main aim in participating in the tour, he said, was to show people a method of farming to grow organically and sustainably and emphasize local inputs to farm right here in Polk County.
“I am going to try and give them a holistic overview including why I place my fields where I do, how they can improve soil health and even what specifically grows well in Polk County,” he said.
He said if visitors walk away with one thing, he hopes they can go back and look at their property as a whole and be able to figure out what they can do on their own.
Just like completing a meal, the farm tour doesn’t forget locally produced beverages. This tour includes stops at several local wineries, which Jackson said are also a huge part of the local agriculture community.
“I think many people would be surprised to know there are 22 vineyards in Polk County and the history of the role grapes at one time played for the county economically because at one time it was our number one export,” Jackson said.
McCannon said he believes people are beginning to crave this type of knowledge and experience.
“One of the reasons why people come to visit our farm is because only two percent of the world farms now, so a majority of the people don’t know what it takes to farm – they don’t know how to raise animals or grow vegetables,” McCannon said. “Plus, many others who may have grown up on farms now want their kids to have an experience like they did when they were young.”
A single vehicle pass will cover any number of people in the vehicle and allow them to visit any of the participating farms. That pass can then also be used Sunday, June 26, to visit ASAP’s Family Farm Tour, which extends to Henderson and Buncombe counties and beyond.
Passes can be purchased at the Mill Spring Ag Center in Mill Spring or at the Manna Cabanna in Saluda. You can also download the farm tour program and map at www.polkcountyfarms.org and purchase your pass the day of the event at any one of the farm stops.
Farm fresh lunch specials will be available at Adawehi’s Beneficial Food Store and a Farm Tour box lunch special will be available at A.P. Williams Deli and Dairy Bar on Hwy. 9 in Green Creek. Or, take your own picnic and lunch riverside or fieldside in the shade at any one of the farm tour stops.