Open Farm Days offers local agriculture experience

Road-trippers can check out woolly pigs and tea-flavoured cheese next week as Open Farm Days returns to Alberta.

Alberta Open Farm Days runs Aug. 19-20. This free agricultural tour encourages people to visit farms across Alberta to learn more about how their food is made.

About 140 farms will host around 20,000 guests during the tour to give people a behind-the-scenes look at their operations, said Alberta Open Farm Days spokesperson Nicola Doherty.

“It’s great for the kids to see a farm for the first time,” Doherty said, and a chance for foodies to get fresh supplies right from the source.

Doherty said guests can use the Open Farm Days website to plan trips to farms throughout Alberta. Each farm offers a free tour, with some offering more involved paid activities.

Open in Sturgeon

This year’s Open Farm Days features eight farms in Sturgeon County.

New to the tour this year is New Beginnings Poultry and Ducks just east of Morinville. Robar said she was a long-time fan of Open Farm Days and decided to join the event this year to show people how to raise their own livestock.

“We want people to learn to live off the land,” she said.

Robar said her farm focuses on heritage breeds of ducks, geese, chickens, turkeys, and pigs not typically found on commercial farms. One of these is the Mangalitsa — a woolly pig from Hungary known for its gentle nature.

“They’re known as the healthiest pork in the world,” Robar said, as they are loaded with antioxidants and vitamin D.

Robar said guests would get to see and possibly pet these and other unusual animals on her farm, including the Sebastopol goose, which has long, white curly feathers that make it look like it is wearing a dress.

Debbie Oyarzun will be at Aurora Alpacas southwest of Morinville to introduce guests to her family’s prize-winning alpacas.

Oyarzun said her son was interested in alpacas and encountered them firsthand at Sunnyhill Alpacas during Open Farm Days several years ago. Their family farm now hosts 24 alpacas and hopes to eventually start selling alpaca wool. Oyarzun said they showed their animals at the Sunnyhill Alpacas site during previous Open Farm Days, and decided to mix things up this year by hosting Sunnyhill at their farm.

Oyarzun said guests at her farm will get to learn about alpacas and see alpaca wool get hand-spun into yarn. Also available onsite will be ceramics by CBoss Pottery and authentic Latin American cuisine from the Sabor de los Andes food truck.

Guests can also head to Jeff Nonay’s Lakeside Farmstead east of Legal for some beer, milk, and chaga cheddar cheese (which combines tea made with chaga mushrooms with cheese for a nutty, sweet taste). Nonay said he will also be running tours of his calf barn and cheese plant every hour and a half.

“We make a variety of cheeses to fit every palate,” Nonay said, adding this farm sold about a tonne of cheese to the Calgary Stampede this year.

Nonay said events such as Open Farm Days help farmers connect with customers to show them how today’s farms are committed to doing better.

“People need to experience farming and agriculture,” he said.

Doherty said guests should wear closed-top shoes and bring cash and a cooler to Open Farm Day sites. Pets should stay at home for their own safety.

Visit albertaopenfarmdays.ca for more on Alberta Open Farm Days.