This Weekend: Join Avery County’s Sixth Annual Fall Farm Tour on Saturday, Aug. 27

By Emily Willis and Cramer Lewis

The Avery County Agricultural Advisory Board will host its sixth annual Fall Farm Tour this weekend. This community enriching tour of various farms across the county will take place Saturday, Aug. 27, from 10:30 a.m. until approximately 6 p.m. The tour will showcase the daily workings and the goods produced by five local farms. The event is intended to educate non-farmers and strengthen community bonds.

“The Fall Farm Tour is a good way to learn about agriculture and learn whats going on in the county,” organizer Jerry Moody said. “Its not just christmas trees.”

The tour features an array of farms in the region: Doug Clark, trees and ornamentals; NC Forest Service Linville River Nursery, greenhouses and seed nursery; Joe Weld, horses, horse boarding and hay; Phillips, Hardwood, corn, wheat and soybeans; Avery Farms in Plumtree, Waightstill Avery, vegetables, berries and tree production.

“The tour is an opportunity to come out and spend a day with farmers and to learn what goes into farming. Farmers, they’re your best environmentalists,” Moody said. “Because they live on that land and their going to give that to their kids. This is a way to build trust between farmers and non-farmers. It’s a way we can educate and have fun at the same time.”

Following a day of touring, participants will cap the experience with an old fashioned pig pickin’ and raffle drawing at Avery Farms. Registration costs include raffle tickets, and additional tickets will be sold during the tour.

The tour will set off from the Avery County Cooperative Extension Center at 10:30 a.m. sharp. There will be transportation provided, but seating is limited. Folks can still register the day of the event, starting at 9 a.m., before the start of the tour. Registration cost is $40.