Strathmore area farms to participate in Open Farm Days

Brady Grove, Times Reporter

Alberta Open Farm Days is returning to the region on Aug. 19 and 20 for the fifth year.
Open Farm Days celebrates farming and educates citizens on the industry and local food production.
This year’s event has over 100 farms participating and will feature two organic farms within a short drive of Strathmore: Poplar Bluff Organics and Rosebud Valley Honey.
“It’s an opportunity for any farm to open their gates to the public and have them come take a look and tour their facility,” said Michelle Baird, a business analyst with Community Futures Wildrose who supports the event. “It basically allows them to showcase who they are and what they do.”
Poplar Bluff Organics operates multiple organic farms in the Strathmore area and is no stranger to the Open Farm Days event.
This year, Cam Beard is featuring the Carrots by Cam arm of Poplar Bluff Organics on Aug. 19 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., north of Carseland. They’re offering tours and education of the organic farm as well as a place for vendors to sell vegetables and jewellery, and there will be a face painter for the children.
“We have some more vendors (and) more food to try, and still time to go out and do the farm tour,” said Beard. “This year I planted some potatoes so we can go and dig them up.”
Poplar Bluff Organics supplies food to over 70 restaurants in the Calgary area. Carrots by Cam grows carrots, beets, potatoes and parsnips with 13 staff members, half of whom work on a seasonal basis. Beard doesn’t use any pesticides or synthetic fertilizers, and instead relies on cover crops and buffer zones.
According to Beard, a 50-foot buffer zone must exist on their land between their crops and non-organic farms to prevent potential pesticide contamination.
Beard also uses the local wildlife to help him identify how his crops are doing.
“If you grow plants with high sugar levels, the bad bugs that eat plants are going to go after the sick plants,” said Beard. “If you keep your plants healthy enough, then you don’t have a bug problem.”
While Beard uses insects as an indicator, bees are Rosebud Valley Honey’s life. The honey producers, located south of Rosebud on township road 271-A, use chemical-free beekeeping practices. They will participate in their second straight Open Farm Days on Aug 19 from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
“Guests will come and watch us as we open up a hive and I’ll talk them through the different social structures,” said Jordan Cutbill who owns the company with his wife Jaala and business partner Kelsey Krogman. “I’ll give a demo on different types of bees; we’ll see bees collecting honey, nectar and pollen.”
Cutbill loves the idea of Open Farm Days, specifically the educational and promotional side of it. For example, one would assume guests would have to wear protective gear at the bee farm. But according to Cutbill, the farm uses Italian honeybees which are very gentle and don’t sting people often.
“Yesterday we extracted 400 pounds of honey and I was wearing shorts and a muscle shirt,” said Cutbill. “My business partner did the first three years without getting stung once.”
The beekeeping farm’s honey is available in Rosebud year-round.
For more information visit albertafarmdays.com.