Mary-Jane Attends Farm Crawl!
One of the pillars of my platform is to support Brant County Agriculture through the protection of productive farmland. With that in mind, I set out on the County of Brant’s Farm Crawl with 2 of my grandchildren and husband. First stop was Blue Gables Acres
https://www.bluegables.ca/
Here, haskap berries are grown and wines produced. The kids wanted to see the berries on the bushes, alas they were out of season. We sampled and purchased some of their delicious berries. Here, 3 varieties are grown – Beauty, Beast, and Blizzard. Many health benefits are gained by eating these berries. Their website provides science based studies supporting these benefits.
Next stop was Brantview Apples & Cider
Where we sampled cider and donuts, purchasing some of each, and toured the orchard. This farm was established in 1820 and the orchard has been producing for 200 years. U-pick apple picking is offered and Howell Road Cider Co. offers some flavourful ciders.
At our next stop of Glenridge Hazelnuts https://glenridgehazelnuts.com/
we sampled delicious hazelnuts, purchasing some chocolate covered ones. This farm started producing hazelnuts in 2016. The kids enjoyed playing on the antique tractor and climbing giant strawbales. On their website you can see how the hazelnuts are harvested.
Following our visit to Glenridge, we then moved on to Moore Farms https://www.mooreberries.ca/
Which offers U-pick strawberries when in season. Here the kids got to try roping a longhorn cow and pet a longhorn calf, along with sampling honey right out of the honey comb. There’s a great farm market here selling their own raised longhorn beef.
Our final stop was at Browndale Farm https://www.browndalefarm.com/
– a dairy producer and farm market. Here the kids met calves and enjoyed the riding toys provided. In the farm market, we purchased some Wagyu beef snack bars which didn’t quite make it all the way home!
All the above farms are local family owned and operated – some in the family for generations. Ensure you are doing your part to support local agriculture which enhances food security. When farms are viable and thriving, the industry is strong, thus reducing the risk of urban sprawl.
