The Rural Voice, 1998-10, Page 21Working together with other
attractions, farm gate businesses can
provide something different for
visitors to the county to do.
Harvest Trail. As well as their
traditional cash crop and custom
spraying business, they have an
equine business, giving riding
lessons and an emu business. As an
added attraction they have a lovely
pond, and they sell pond products
for people who admire their
landscaping efforts.
t all works together, Amy says.
"Kids come for riding lessons and
their parents can relax around the
pond, then they might be interested
in buying other things."
Amy hopes to expand the traffic at
the farm through the Harvest Trail
tours. The farm has different
activities it can offer all year round.
But the Harvest Trail program
aims to do more than just get visitors
to the gate. To take part each
business had to pay $145 for the first
year (subsequent years will cost $90)
which included the Huron Harvest
Trail sign, a year's membership in
the Huron Tourism Association and a
one -day training session for one
person. Farm businesses attended a
session called "Opening your gates to
tourism" while retail businesses took
a course called "Being an
ambassador". Courses will be offered
throughout the winter to teach
members how to give good service
and good value to their guests.
The project has brought all aspects
of the food industry together, Bayley
says. There has been an enthusiastic
response from chefs at the county's
top restaurants. Some have been
seeking out new local food suppliers
to offer unique local taste
experiences for visitors.
It's important that everybody
work together, she says. "You have
to sell the whole experience, the
whole destination."
That idea is what attracted Jacquie
Bishop to join the program. She and
her husband Kevin started Shayrina
Sheep Farm near Bluevale in
northern Huron County this past
spring. The farm offers shows in a
converted machinery shed to
introduce people to the business of
sheep farming. They have a corn
maze, a petting zoo and a gift shop
and they hope to sell freezer Iamb in
the future.
If you can package a fcw
agritourism businesses together,
Jacquie says you can attract bus tours
from the U.S. and elsewhere.
That's what the Tourism
Association hopes, Bayley says. The
group plans to use the Huron Harvest
Trail, and the future cultural trail, as
a basis to bring bus loads of visitors
from Europe, the United States and
other parts of Canada to "Ontario's
West Coast".
Jacquie Bishop sees agritourism
as the wave of the future. "We're
promoting primary agriculture. It
allows people to get back to the
farm." If people can actually step on
to a farm they'll understand farming
better, she feels.
The Tourism Association is
working fast to try to have both thc
Harvest and Cultural Trails in place
in time for the 1999 International
Plowing Match at Dashwood in the
south of the county with the hope
visitors to the match might explore
the rest of the county while they're
here.
And the Harvest Trail is just thc
beginning. Bayley sees it as a
catalyst to make other food -oriented
events take place. She sees the
connections made by members of the
Trail leading to new business
opportunities. It will give farm
families new alternatives as they try
to make a living from thc Iand.O
Hitting the road
to greater
knowledge of
•
farming
The Huron Harvest Trail is just
the latest of a numbcr of initiatives
around the area to take urban
residents out into the country.
Upcoming in October, for
instance, arc two one -day ,
opportunities for people to see
how the other three per cent earn
their living producing food.
Sunday, October 4 will sec the
fifth edition of Perth County's
Harvest Day Tour while Huron
County will host its Farm Hiker
Tour the same day.
In Perth, you can get the day
off to a rural start with a Breakfast
in the Country at Brooklawn Farm
outside Mitchell at a cost of S6 for
adults, S3 for children. Those
wanting to take the tour can
purchase passports there (at 56 per
vehicle) or get them at the parking
lots at Claudes Electric on Huron
St., Stratford or the Staffcns stores
in St. Marys or Mitchell.
Tours will be offered from 10
a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and on this
year's itinerary are a diary
operation, the county's only bison
farm, a farm equipment dealership
and the Stratford Perth Museum.
Huron's Farm Hiker Tour will
focus on the townships of
Tuckersmith, Hullett, McKillop
and Goderich as well as the towns
of Seaforth and Clinton.
Registration takes place at the
Seaforth Agriplex where several
commodity groups will have
displays. Admission is an item for
the food bank. Visitors will then
be able to visit the new Quality
Jersey Products cheese factory
(noon to 3 p.m. only) and visit a
market garden, swine, beef, dairy,
sheep and emu farms and a quarter
horse farm (where pony rides will
be available).
The day will end with a dinner
featuring the products of the land
at the Seaforth Agriplex from
4:00-7:00 p.m. at a cost of $8 for
adults and $5 for children.0
OCTOBER 1998 17