The Rocky Mountain House Agricultural Society along with Open Farm Days will be holding a ‘caravan’ type event where participants will visit four area farms.

Beginning the morning of Saturday, Aug. 17, organizers say participants will meet at Rival Trade Brewing Co. in Rocky Mountain House before piling into cars to ‘caravan’ to four different West County farms to learn about their operations.

Participating farms in the West Country include:

• Mathey Farms. Located near Caroline, this farm focusses on regenerative grazing practices and raises pigs, sheep, cattle, turkeys and ducks.
• Rancho Relaxo Resort. Located near Rocky Mountain House, this farm focusses on eco-tourism. It features renewable energy systems, organic food production, water harvest, compost, food storage, off-grid log cabins, and a other ideas that aims to help families move towards self-sufficiency.
• Little Farm on Wall Street. Located east of Rocky Mountain House, this farm has a focus on growing flowers. Participants will have an opportunity to learn about the Krook family’s growing practices.
• Van der Gun Diary. Located 25 km west of Innisfail on Hwy. 54, is a local family-run dairy farm with 120 milking cows. Started in 2001, the cows live in a free stall barn and the cows are milked in a herringbone milk parlor.

Following the farm tour, a farm-to-table dinner will be served at Rival Trade. The dinner is $40 for adults, $15 for children, and kids under 5 are free.

Brewery tours will also be made available at Rival Trade for those 18+, say organizers.

Open Farm Days has something for everyone, says Open Farm Days committee member Tannis Baker. That includes distillery tours for the 18+ crowd, as well as petting zoos for children.

Educational opportunities include dairy farms to learn where your milk comes from, to large-scale operations with heavy equipment, to smaller-scale operations that focus on composting and sustainability.

The theme animal for the worldwide Open Farm Days is camelids, says Baker. That includes camels, llamas and alpacas. Since Alberta doesn’t have many camels, Baker says the focus is on llamas and alpacas.

While the operations are small in scale, Baker says there are central Alberta farms that produce alpaca wool, and even some that focus on alpaca milk.

Baker says over 30 central Alberta farms will be participating over the weekend, more than any other year in its history.

“We’re in our 12th year now, and it continues to expand and grow which is exciting,” says Baker. “More and more people are getting on board. Some are on board purely for the educational aspect, while others are hoping to get into agri-tourism.”

Baker notes all of the the farm tours are free, although, as is the case with the Rocky event, there are adject events where participants can spend money.

Over 160 farms across the entire province are participating says Baker, and it’s a great opportunity to ‘choose your adventure’ to learn more about farming in Alberta.

The caravan begins at 9:15 a.m. at Rival Trade Brewing in Rocky Mountain House on August 17. However, Baker says all farms mentioned above will also be open for tours on Sunday, Aug. 18 except Van der Gun Dairy.

Email rockyagsocietyinfo@gmail.com for more information or to register.