Go Green This Summer: Venture Out For Some Agritourism
June 20, 2012
With school out for the summer, many parents are looking for fun and educational summer activities with their children. Trips to the pool and playground are plentiful in our family, but we also like to incorporate educational opportunities into our outings. Whether it is a trip to the zoo or aquarium, turning fun into a learning experience is a must.
However, there are lots of educational learning opportunities that families overlook. One of these is agritourism. So what is agritourism? Agritourism is any agriculturally-based operation or activity that brings visitors to a farm or ranch.
Agritourism is essentially bringing your family to a day on the farm or maybe even a weekend trip. Many small and large farms are catering to the new-found interest in agritourism. In fact, there may be a farm much closer than you expected.
What can you expect to do during a farm tour or stay?
Honestly this depends on the farm and what you want to experience. There are farms that give basic tours of their facilities and let you pet/feed the animals. You can also watch the day-to-day activities of the farm hands. Other farms will actually let you get down and dirty too. You can harvest chicken eggs, sheer sheep, feed cattle, and learn to ride a horse.
You are not limited to poultry and cattle farms. A number of produce farms give families the opportunity to pick their own berries or produce. Many times the pick-your-own farms offer fantastic deals on their produce or have free produce if you pick for them. We have a local berry farm that does a pick 2 get 1 free special. If you pick 2 pounds of berries for the farm, you are free to take a pound of berries home for yourself free. You can work and be rewarded with some fantastic locally grown produce.
Here are a few other types of farms that typically allow agritourists.
- Bee farms
- Dairy farms
- Vineyards
- Greenhouses
- Llama and Alpaca farms
- Christmas Tree farms
- Hatcheries (fish)
- and any variety of other livestock you can think off
Where to find an agritourist destination?
The first place I would start if you are just wanting a day trip is with your state’s agrotourist site. Most states now have websites dedicated to agritourism. Simply google for your local states agritourism site. For example, I live in Oklahoma and our agrotourism site is http://www.oklahomaagritourism.com/.
There are also nation and worldwide agritourism sites that you can search. Here are a few of my favorite sites:
This truly will be a summer adventure that your whole family will love. Learn something new and spend some quality time together as a family. Have you ever been on an agritour adventure?
