Slow Food Katy Trail Farm Tour

First Annual Self-Guided Farm Tour 2012

Visit your local, organic and sustainable farms!

Sunday, June 24 from 1-5 P.M.

Slow Food Katy Trail has asked a few local farmers to showcase their farms on June 24 at our first (and, we hope, annual) farm tour. It's a self-guided (drive-yourself-to-the-farms) affair, and a great opportunity for enthusiasts of fresh, local and seasonal foods to see where it all comes from.

Each farm will have different and interesting things to show and tell visitors. Among the sensory offerings will be music, frolicking baby goats, chickens that lay blue eggs, delicious treats, farm products for sale and gorgeous scenery.

We encourage families to bring children and introduce them to life on the farm and the origins of food. It's free, it's educational and it's a wonderful way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Visit one or as many as you like.

 

See you on the farm(s)!!

Participating farms include:

         Deep Mud Farm is a certified organic truck farm supplying diverse vegetables to farmers markets and restaurants in Columbia and St Louis. Run by Jeremy Saurage, it is on four acres that are part of what was once his great grandfather's farm in Callaway County. While modestly sized, Deep Mud focuses on producing as much value and as high a quality as possible, using the most efficient and appropriate means available. Come on out!

            *From the Hatton exit (MM144) on I-70, go north on Rt. M for about 6 miles to T-junction. Turn right on Rt. E, go about 3 miles to the water tower. Turn left onto CR 245, which is initially paved. Travel for 1.5 miles, go past the brick church, the road turns to gravel, continue north a bit farther to the first road to the west. Go left on CR 290, continue 3/4 mile to the farm on the right side of the road. It’s the only house on the road.

         Altai Meadows is a family farm located in north-central Missouri near Higbee. Our family is dedicated to the production of quality grass-fed, grass-finished beef in a manner that respects our environment and our animals. Our animals are moved to fresh pasture on a daily basis to provide exceptional foraging conditions, while continuously improving our pastures. Our beef is naturally and humanely raised without added hormones or antibiotics. We also leave out the chemical wormer and the multitude of vaccine injections. That’s why our beef is so clean. Grass-finished beef and eggs from pastured chickens are available for purchase at the farm and at the Columbia Farmers Market in Columbia.

            *From Columbia travel north on 63 about 20 miles or so to Rt. B and take a left. Take B about 9 miles to the T intersection at Rt. A. Take a right and follow what is now Rt. AB through Higbee. Just north of Higbee, Rt. B takes off to the left. Stay on Rt. A for about a mile past B and take a right on CR 2540. A sign on this corner says Higbee City Cemetery. Follow a short distance to a T intersection and take a left on CR 2530. Follow to first road on right—CR 2535. Turn right and follow to end of this dead-end road. We are the last (third) house on the road.

         Terra Bella Farm, near Hatton, is a diverse 160-acre farm with several projects aimed at increasing the public’s access to locally raised foods and increasing interest in the rural community. We’ve been an organic farm since 1999 and follow strictly no-chemical practices, but dropped our certification soon after USDA made it obvious they would make the rules easy for corporate growers rather than small farms. On June 24, we also will be welcoming the Crop Mob, a group of volunteers who work on farms. According to our mission, we are "dedicated to food for the local community, arts for all and the health of the rural ecosystem, including our farmers." We have vegetable gardens, a timber-stand-improvement project, pasture for cattle and sheep, and a historic wheat project in its second year. We are home to the mid-Missouri Barn Quilt Project. Two of our buildings are solar and our irrigation system is partially solar. On June 24, we will have a self-guided walking tour and cookies from our wheat project in the Model-T garage, an off-grid building that was moved to its current site in 2010.

            *Take I-70 to Exit 144 and go north on Rt. M 4 miles to 1303 Rt. M. Do not follow internet directions.

         Covered-L Farm, south of Centralia and southeast of Hallsville. Come relax to the sounds of quail calling and grass growing. We are making slow, but steady, progress in reclaiming worn-out conventional crop ground for our 100% grass-fed beef operation. We use no antibiotics, hormones, insecticides or herbicides, but we are not organic—just very close. Check out a couple of our experimental efforts to provide a smorgasbord of forage for the cattle and/or help us with a paddock shift —moving the herd to a fresh pasture. For a price list, email us at cvrdlfarm@centurytel.net, place an order and we will have it ready for pick up at the farm tour. Our Spring Grilling Special prices on filet, rib eye and KC strip will still be in effect. Summer sausage samples and bottled water available.

            *From Columbia, take I-70 east to Exit 133. Go north on Rt. Z toward Centralia for about 10 miles to Rt. D. Turn right on D, go 3⁄4 mile and turn right on McDonald Rd. (gravel). In about 3⁄4 mile turn left on Rouse Rd; it ends at our place. From Centralia, go south on Jefferson St/Rt Z to Rt D. From Hallsville take Rt. OO to Z, then left to D. (H) 573-682-5536; during tour, 573-982-9136                                                                        

         Happy Hollow Farm is nestled among the rolling hills along the Missouri River. The primary growing fields, which border the Little Splice Creek bottom, benefit from beautiful silt loam soils rich in organic matter. The farming techniques used on this farm are a combination of highly managed cover cropping, crop rotations, the application of compost, mulch and small quantities of minerals and nutrients. My goal is to give back more to the soil than I take. We sell directly to Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) members, local restaurants and at the Farmers & Artisans Market in downtown Columbia. Joining a CSA is a shared commitment between the consumer and the farmer, providing some certainty to the farmer in the way of a secure market for our produce in the fickle world we know as farming. My goal at Happy Hollow Farm CSA is to provide the highest quality produce possible. I strive to offer the most organized and effective way for consumers to buy seasonally fresh food directly from a local certified organic farm.

          *Get on Hwy 179, then go east onto Hwy P toward Lupus. Go 3 miles, turn right onto Lupus Rd. Go 2 miles, turn right onto Happy Hollow Rd. Go 1 mile, farm is on the right.

            Walk-About Acres, LLC is a small, diversified family farm with a big emphasis on honeybees. We provide the community with quality products, responsibly grown in a fun and educational environment for the whole family. Come visit the Buzzy Bee Classroom, Papa’s Store, and our Missouri Mulefoot hogs, emus and Aracauna chickens. We’ll have delicious Walk-About Acres Honey Ice Cream and maps for self-guided tours. Porta potties are available.

            *From the I-70 and Hwy 63 interchange take Hwy 63 north to the second exit for Rt. B to Hallsville. Go about 2 miles north on Rt. B to Rt. HH (gas station on corner). Go right on Rt. HH for about 2 miles. Rt. HH will curve to the left and Kircher Rd. is on the right. Follow Kircher Rd. around two curves to 6800 North Kircher Rd. at the bottom of the hill on the left.

            Goatsbeard Farm is a small family-owned and -operated goat dairy northwest of Columbia. We maintain a herd of about 80 goats, 60 of which are milked twice each day from March through December. The milk is used to make a variety of fresh and aged artisanal farmstead goat cheeses sold throughout Missouri. Visitors to the farm can see frolicking baby goats, tour the dairy facility, visit our garden, walk along ponds and pastures, listen to a bit of bluegrass music, and get an idea of how a small goat dairy operates on a daily basis. Cheeses will be available for tasting and purchase.

            *Take I-70 west to Fayette exit/Hwy 40. Go northwest on Hwy 40 about 4 miles, turn right on Hwy J. Follow J north about 8 miles and turn left on Callahan Creek Rd. The farm is about a mile farther, on the right just across the concrete bridge. 11351 Callahan Creek Rd. 573-875-0706.

            Pierpont Farms is a 34-acre family farm located just south of Columbia near Rock Bridge State Park. We are not certified organic, but follow organic practices. In addition to growing many crops outdoors, we have a greenhouse for starting plants and grow in 2 high tunnels year ‘round. We use a half-acre Haygrove tunnel mainly for tomatoes, raspberries, melons and sweet potatoes. We grow just about everything you can grow in mid-Missouri for our CSA members, restaurants, colleges, the Columbia Farmers Market and Boone Hospital. We have a demonstration garden/u-pick area for our CSA customers. We raise laying hens for eggs, bantams for pets and have a beautiful Narragansett tom turkey, “Goebels,” that is always fully displaying his plumage. Our property also hosts bee hives, which belong to a CSA customer and Walk-About Acres.

            *Go south on Providence Rd. to Rock Bridge Elementary. Take a left at the light (163) and follow until you reach the 4-way stop at the Pierpont Store. Turn right onto Rt. N, and it’s a little over a mile on your left. If coming from US 63, go west on 163 and follow past Strawberry Hill to 4-way stop at Pierpont Store. Go straight through the 4-way, and it’s a little over a mile on your left. Big sign in front yard. Be prepared for friendly, barking dogs.  

          The Salad Garden is a small farm located in Ashland, Missouri, 15 minutes south of Columbia. On our 1.5-acre plot, we grow a wide array of Certified Organic herbs, flowers, fruits and vegetables, including many open-pollinated and heirloom varieties. Our mission is to provide fresh, delicious, healthy organically grown produce to members of the mid-Missouri community, while maintaining and improving the health and quality of the soils, the water, the air and biological life.

         *From Columbia, take US-63 going south. Take the Ashland/Guthrie exit and turn left, going east on State Route Y. After 2.5 miles, look for Hawkins Rd, which in on the right after a curve in the road. Turn right on Hawkins and go a mile down the road to the big red barn on the right.

• This is a self-guided tour.

• Most farms do not have public restrooms.

• Dress appropriately with hat, sunscreen,

   comfortable shoes and clothing.

• Please—no dogs and no smoking.

• Please do not go in greenhouses or walk farms without a guide.