Dufferin Town and County Farm Tour

Sharing Recipient Stories

2022 Dufferin County Community Grant Recipient
$1,000

Sharing our grant story

2022 saw the return of the live, in-person event with five host farms located in the East Garafraxa and Grand Valley areas of Dufferin County.  Participants were delighted to be hands-on with livestock and produce on the tour day!

The first stop of the day was at Hereward Lavender Farm, East Garafraxa with hosts Julie and Steve Burnett.  Lavender is a recent crop addition to the Burnett Farm operation.  With over 6000 plants, the lavender is used to create oils, lotions and other products, all for sale in the beautiful refurbished display area.  Details of the planting, harvesting and manufacturing were shared with the interested public.  Added attractions at the farm included Amaranth potter Ann Randerad, the Clydesdale horses of Mono resident Larry Braiden, visiting pigs and chickens from Erin and neighbouring honey producer Tom Baird whose bees frequent the lavender plants while making their rounds.  Young children had the opportunity to practice farming skills in the corn pools with toy farm equipment.

The second stop was South Creek Acres, the farm of the McClinchey family, also in East Garafraxa.  This family has a herd of Red Lincoln beef cattle, along with chickens, sheep and horses.  Heather has a collection of beautifully restored carriages and buggies.   Son Davis had vegetables from his garden for sale.  Children were able to try out their navigation skills on the bale course for pedal tractors.  Preserves, jams and pickles from Ann’s s Kitchen were available to purchase.  Wagon rides provided visitors with a tour of the farm.

Next stop was at the Orr Family Farm, north of Grand Valley.  David farms a large acreage producing various grains such as soybeans, barley, wheat and canola.  Denise breeds sheep mostly for the lamb sales but she also sells the wool fibre.  Everyday new arrivals are born.  Both young and old were eager to hold and cuddle the young lambs.  Many gathered around guest Bill McCutcheon, most interested to watch as he sheared the adult sheep throughout the day.  Also on hand, Rhonda Gerrits demonstrated how the wool from the sheep is spun into yarn that is used in the knitting of many garments.  As a special treat, skewers of lamb meat were sold from the BBQ on site. 

At Grand River Farm, also north of Grand Valley, the Landman family manages several enterprises.  Rebecca operates a bakery, store and restaurant on the farm.  Prepared foods, preserves, jams and baked goods are all available to purchase along with fresh eggs, farm raised pork and dairy goat products.  Lunches can be enjoyed on site on the patio or in the Blackhouse, a dry stone building built by Rebecca’s father Eric.  Josh Landman manages a herd of over 300 dairy goats.  The goat milk is sold to Saputo for cheese production.  Children delighted in watching the antics of the young goats and hand feeding the curious “kids”.  Fresh grown produce and herbs from the Grand River Gardens division was also for sale at the farm.

The final stop of the day was at Belgia Farms, home to the Brink family.  This farm located north of Grand Valley is home to a large herd of Jersey cattle.  All the milk produced is sold to Quality Cheese of Orangeville where it is manufactured into Mozzarella Cheese.  Over 180 of the Jerseys are milked daily by one of the robotics on site.  The cows are able to freely move around the large, airy barns and enter the milking parlours at will, usually about three times a day.  Young calves were very popular as one young girl spent more than an hour curled up beside a newborn.  Another young boy waited most of the day to witness the birth of a new calf.  Visitors were able to tour through all the barns that housed the inquisitive Jerseys of various ages as well as learn about the daily feed requirements of one cow.  Samples of products created from milk and cheese were distributed to visitors.    

The day turned out to be a beautiful fall day with lots of sunshine to enhance the experience of the approximate 1500 visitors.  Over $5500 and 1300 lbs of food was collected for the local Food Banks.  Thanks to the hard work and warm welcome of the hosts, the dedication of our many volunteers and the amazing support of our sponsors, Dufferin Farm Tour of 2022 was a very successful event for Dufferin County.