Food and Farm Tours,
Friday, Feb. 24
FARM TOURS ARE NOW SOLD OUT
THANK YOU!
1. Comerford Farms - SOLD OUT
Comerford Farms is a family owned operation that began on 165 acres of cutover timberland in Eastern Troup County. The farm was purchased in 1994 and began running a few cattle in 1995, calves in 2005, sheep in 2007, and hogs in 2009. The mission of Comerford Farms is to produce “healthy food for our family and the families of our community while improving the land and animals for the next generation.” Farm tour visitors will see and learn basics of rotational, multi-species, low-input grazing, as well as stockpiled forages to limit hay feeding. Because of these practices they will see and learn about animals that are adapted to their environment and require little outside inputs. They will see a diverse forage menu eaten by Red Angus cattle, Katahdin sheep, and Large Black and Tamworth pigs.
2. Jenny Jack Sun Farm - SOLD OUT
Jenny and Chris Jackson began their farm operation on Jenny's family land in Pine Mountain in 2007. They grow a diversity of vegetables, fruit, flowers, and herbs on four acres of the 160-acre family farm Jenny grew up on. During spring, summer, and fall they sell to a 120-member CSA, two farmers markets, an on farm market, and a sprinkling of restaurants – all of which are within 30 miles of the farm. Jenny and Chris, along with two apprentices, run the operation mostly by hand and with a small tractor used mainly for breaking up ground. Around the garden you’ll see their plot sizes, irrigation system (USDA funded), high tunnel ( also USDA funded), greenhouse, and a small fruit orchard. You’ll learn the dynamics of their access to the arable land they farm, the benefits of production with two really nice barn structures on-farm, and appreciate the support that willing parents and a small town community can provide.
3. Randle Farms - SOLD OUT
The original 35 acre Randle Farm was purchased in September of 1975, and today comprises 210 acres run by Frank, Pat, and their two sons. Mr. Frank and Mrs. Pat planted the first acre of blueberries in 1976 while working on a project with Dr. Booker T. Whatley from Tuskegee University. This lead to the approximate 10 acres we currently have in blueberry production.
Sheep, rabbits, chickens, dairy cattle, beef cattle, and pigs have been added over the years to harvest the grasses that grow abundantly, to move nutrients on the farm, and to manage crop residues. They also grow a variety of vegetables and market through a CSA, restaurants and an on-farm store. Animals that must be processed are transported only 30 miles to Wilson's Farm Meat Processing, a family owned and operated abattoir. Also hear about on-farm research at Randle Farms with Auburn and the USDA Agriculture Research Service for conservation tillage, organic vegetable production systems with heavy cover crop residue.
4. Sim’s Garden Patch and Little Bit Farm - SOLD OUT
Sim’s Garden Patch, once a school ground packed hard by many children's feet, has been transformed into three garden patches, one blueberry patch, and planted pines. Tour the 110-year-old stone church that was once abandoned and reclaimed in 1994 as a home by Sim and his wife Caroline. Nearby La Grange College requires every student to take a sustainability class, and participants will hear from the professor about how he connects the students’ work with garden patch planting, mulching, and harvesting.
Ten years ago, Lisa and Brad Armstrong acquired a portion of their family farm in Harris County. The Atlanta couple now spends weekends and vacations developing a self-sustaining farm and family retreat, called Little Bit Farm. The initial raised- bed family garden has grown allowing them to sell vegetables, fruits, and free range eggs to restaurants and families in Atlanta. Beyond the vegetable garden and pine plantation, the farm includes a chicken tractor with 40 hens, a three-year-old fruit orchard, blueberry bushes, and newly established half acre of land for row crops. Even though part-time, they rarely have need to buy vegetables.
5. Columbus Garden Tour - SOLD OUT
This tour will visit four community garden projects around Columbus and hear from the people who are directly involved with each. The Deborah Jones Memorial Garden is managed by a neighborhood church and is the only community garden in this area of Columbus. As part of the revitalization of the neighborhood, the community garden has built relationships that last beyond the growing season, which is of course what community gardening is all about. The heirloom garden of the Walker-Peters Langdon House exemplifies how gardens were a vital part of life in the mid-19th century, and features plants used for food, medicine, and dyes. The Wilson Housing Authority gardens are a joint effort between the UGA Cooperative Extension, Strong-4 Life Campaign and the Wilson Housing Authority. Much of the current crops are easy to grow fruit plants, such as blackberry, blueberry, and fruiting trees, and the garden areas will eventually include a raised-bed vegetable garden for residents. Finally, the tour will visit a garden built youth from Girls Inc. together with UGA Cooperative Extension. These students installed 10 raised-bed vegetable gardens in the spring, which are hand-watered and harvested throughout the summer.
6. Bemastan Worm Farm and Auburn University - SOLD OUT
Bemastan Worm Farm is a medium-sized worm castings operation with several million worms, run out of a few small buildings. Worms are kept in plastic tubs and some larger table and bins. Tour visitors will get a firsthand view of Bemastan’s successful model: first, eggs are collected from breeding stock and placed in the bedding prepared from local sources. Worms are sorted and moved in tubs until they reach the desired size. Then the castings are screened and the worms and eggs are harvested. Castings are bagged for sale or sold by the truckload, and worms are sold in bulk and packed in small plastic tubs for the fishing industry. The Auburn stop will also feature The Old Rotation, the world's oldest cotton rotation experiment, and The Cullars Rotation, the South’s oldest soil fertility field experiment. Beginning in 1896, The Old Rotation has demonstrated that sustainable cotton, soybean, corn, and small grain production was possible if farmers would plant winter cover crops and rotate their summer cash crops. Both are on the National Register of Historic Places.
7. Georgia’s Finest Organic Farm -SOLD OUT
Georgia’s Finest, located in Waverly Hall, Harris County, consists of 30 acres of certified organic vegetables on a 101-acre tract. Started in 2010, this farm has the powerful combination of lifelong agricultural and business experience from different industries. The farm markets locally in the Columbus area through farmers markets and restaurants, and has primarily targeted wholesale outlets such as Whole Foods and Fresh Point. Farm tour visitors will learn about the lessons Georgia’s Finest farmers learned about developing a mid-size organic farm in the southeast. See the simple yet efficient infrastructure for produce processing and storage before its moved quickly to its final destination. You’ll also learn about the micro-irrigation system crucial to making the whole thing work. Partners Chris French and Ira Meyers inspire a warm and welcome reception to their products. Don’t miss this great opportunity to experience Georgia’s Finest.
8. Nuts! From Shells to Shelf
Georgia produces almost half of the domestic peanut supply in the United States on over a half a million acres. This tour visits a Snyder’s Lance snack processing and manufacturing facility that has processed peanuts since 1925 and manufactured products since 1965. Synder’s Lance shells, blanches, and roasts millions of pounds of peanuts every year for three candy lines and seven bakery lines. They do everything from packaging snack peanuts to making crunch bars, and even do the manufacturing for the organic Late July sandwich cookies. One of the tour leaders will be Ben Smith, manager of peanut operations who has been with the company for 43 years. After the tour, Nathan Smith and Ward Black from the University of Georgia will talk about a research study they’ve completed on the feasibility of developing a certified organic small-scale processing operation. The costs, returns, and economic viability estimates describe an on-farm certified organic operation that shells, blanches and roasts. On this tour we’ll also share the results from a consumer survey on the willingness to pay for organic and locally grown peanuts.
9. Café Campesino, Koinonia Farm and Providence Canyon (9 a.m. to 5 p.m.) - SOLD OUT
Koinonia Farm, an intentional Christian community founded in 1942, began practicing permaculture design four years ago as part of its efforts to feed the hungry through renewal of body, mind, and spirit. Visitors will enjoy a home-cooked lunch with community members and see permaculture design principles in action. The tour visits Koinonia’s gardens, fruit and nut orchards, grass-fed livestock, and includes an overview of the farm’s history. Come and see how one small community is exploring the intersection where human cultures and communities meet, while learning to live in harmony with the natural world around us.
Based in Americus, Café Campesino is Georgia’s first 100% Fair Trade, organic coffee company. It receives more than 100,000 pounds of green coffees from around the world per year and roasts, blends, packages, and ships those coffees to customers throughout the United States. Visitors will tour Café Campesino’s roasting and packaging facilities, learn about Café Campesino’s history and approach to Fair Trade, develop a better understanding of the company’s work with coffee farmers, and sample freshly roasted, specialty grade coffee from an adjacent coffeehouse.
Finally, the tour will visit Providence Canyon on the return back to Columbus. Providence is an 1,109-acre state park with 16 canyons, some as deep as 150 feet, that were caused by erosion due to poor farming practices in the 19th century.