Open Farm Days, now in its sixth year, are returning to Frontenac County in just a few weeks.
“We’re trying to really connect people from farm to table,” says Debbi Miller, community development officer for Frontenac County.
“Some of the events are taking place on farms, some of them are taking place in restaurants or around a table, so there’s lots of opportunities for different events.”
There are informal drop-in events and more formal ticketed events over roughly six weeks.
“Maybe it’s the farm tour and you actually wander the fields with a farmer,” says Miller. “Or you’re looking at a beekeeping experience, or the Hopyard on Wolfe Island.”
Maple Ridge Farm, just on the outskirts of Sydenham, is run by Mark McCrady and Becky Williams.
They have an apiary, grow a range of flowers and have livestock, including cattle.
“We have a diversified farm, we believe in all of the plants and animals working together on our farm,” says Williams. “So the bees and the flower field and then the animals have their superpowers of mowing and grazing our pastures.”
McCrady and Williams say Open Farm Days plays an important role in connecting people to where their food comes from.
“It’s making people aware of our supply chain issues,” says McCrady. “In the last five years, everybody knows what’s going on in the world, so understanding where your food comes from has never been more important.”
The hope is people will walk away with some knowledge that they can apply in their own lives.
“It could be something just as simple as starting to compost, or thinking about having a few chickens in your backyard,” says Williams.
Near Harrowsmith, Long Road Ecological Farm was started by Jonathan Davies and Xiabing Shen about a decade ago.
The property is dotted with a number of gardens with a mix of vegetables and flowers.
“We grow a lot of in-season summer type of vegetable, and equally a lot of Asian types,” says Shen.
Equally as interesting is the work the two have put in to get the farm to where it is today.
“Developing gardens from hay fields, that took a few seasons to kind of develop the soil to get things growing nicely,” says Davies. “Then, just every year we’ve kind of tweaked it and developed it further.”
Open Farm Days run from Sept. 1st to Oct. 15th, so mark your calendar, or you may find yourself standing at the back of the line.