Monday, June 22, 2009

WNC Family Farm Tours This Weekend

Adapted from the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project website:

The Mountain Family Farm Tour, organized by ASAP, is your invitation to visit your choice of 38 farms and gardens throughout six counties in Western North Carolina.

Tour as many or as few as you like. The Family Farm Tour is June 27 and 28, from 1p.m. to 6p.m.

About the Tour

Gather your friends, fill a car, choose the farms you want to visit and plan a route. There are more than enough choices to fill a schedule for Saturday and Sunday.

Come with a cooler and your appetite. A variety of vegetables and fruits, trout, beef, pork, lamb, eggs, artisan cheeses, herbs, mushrooms, honey, garlic, preserves, and much more are available to sample or for sale. Products including yarn, soap, and crafts are offered as well.

Watch animals such as bison, llamas, baby lambs and bunnies. See traditional skills in practice—and even try them out yourself—during demonstrations of border collie shepherding, outdoor apple butter making, milking, the maple syrup tapping process and wool spinning.

Or learn about new ideas during a tour of renewable energy systems, see a hydroponics system, visit an edible landscape or explore a garden labyrinth. Eat bread fresh from a wood-fired oven and artisan ice cream, and stop for a picnic at one of the many beautiful farms along the way.

Click here to download a PDF of the 2009 Family Farm Tour guide. (This is a large file not recommended for dial-up connections.)

Buncombe County Farms on the Tour:

Blue Ridge Bison

Cane Creek Valley Farm

Flying Cloud Farm

Gladheart Farms

Good Fibrations Angora Goats

Hawk and Ivy

Hickory Nut Gap Farm

Highlander Farm

Imladris Farm

Long Branch Environmental Education Center

Martins Creek Homestead

Pearson Drive Community Garden

Pisgah View Peace Garden

Round Mountain Creamery

Venezia Dream Farm

View a Google map of the farms on the tour. This map is intended to give you an idea of the general location of the farms in relation to each other. Do not rely on internet mapping and driving directions. The information about rural areas on these maps is often incomplete. Use the driving directions in the tour guide (above), and contact the farms for clarification if needed.

Admission:

Purchase a button. One button admits everyone in your car. Buttons are offered for sale for $20 at these locations.

You may also purchase buttons at farms on the day of the tour for $25. If you only wish to visit one farm, pay $10 on-site.

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