On a cold but sunny New Year's Day, 2004, 14 people (3 families together) visited our farm for a farm tour. The kids were bundled up and excited for the farm experience, and their parents were happy to have a fun safe environment for the kids to explore and learn from. The alpaca were inquisitive and allowed the kids to get a close look. Our 2 Nubian milking goats however, were most happy to make some new friends, and bounded up to the small children as they piled out of mini-vans and into a new world.

After introducing and describing the alpaca and goats, we began the journey to visit the horses, about a ten-minute walk. The kids thought it was a great opportunity to run ahead on the snow covered farm lane, between the fields and the horse pastures. Our big friendly white horse Chico was thrilled to come out of the pasture on a lead rope and let everyone pet him. He just loves attention, especially from children.

The parents and kids learned about farm animals, the fields where the crops will be growing, the pastures where the animals live, and the forests that surround all of it. We capped off the farm experience by viewing the large frozen waterfall, Indian Chimney Falls, in a deep gorge that borders our farm on the South.

The rest of winter and spring were spent actively planning for the upcoming summer and fall, our first season to officially open as an Agritourism farm. A key component of our plans depended on receiving the NYS Agritourism and Education Grant. Detailed applications had been completed in August of 2003 and in October of 2003 we had hosted an official site visit. At least we knew we made it past the first round of cuts. Then came the waiting. We hoped the Grant would help pay for parking improvements and our beautiful farm sign by the road. The application process really made us think about all we needed to accomplish to allow visitors to enjoy our small farm. A significant part of the screening process was a listing of the ways we were contributing to the farm, as our share of the projects the Grant award helped pay for.

Finally, in May of 2004 we were informed we had won a Grant award. Chris, fully expecting to get the Grant, already had contractors lined up. Upstream Construction descended upon our farm with lots of earth moving machinery, manpower, and a steady stream of dump trucks delivering gravel to upgrade our driveway and parking. Bob Timmerman at Sunshine Sign Company completed our custom hand painted farm sign. By the end of June the Grant projects were complete.
However, we had an ever-growing list of projects we wished to accomplish to prepare for our Grand Opening Celebration, now scheduled for the second weekend in October.

Thanks to the generosity of our parents, Russell and Maribeth Grant and Ron and Jean Brockmann, we were able to complete most of what we started out to do.
We now had a fall deadline for finishing all of these summertime projects. October 9 and 10 would be our weekend to invite the public out. Chris sent out press releases to the area papers, and added photos, directions, and more about the event to our website, and got links from many other regional tourism websites and other related businesses. We joined the Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce and printed up thousands of brochures. Through articles in the Ithaca Journal, coverage of our ribbon cutting ceremony and placing brochures with local businesses, we hoped we would have a few people show up for our event.

In addition to inviting everyone we talked to for the entire summer and fall, we developed strategic partnerships with a two local businesses, which could complement our event. Baker?s Acres in Lansing, NY and Treleavan Winery in King Ferry already had planned a fall weekend with many events. They graciously allowed us to join in on the advertising and promotion bandwagon. The Cinnamon Shoppe in Lansing was also excited to have a new business just down the road. They baked their signature cinnamon buns and farm animal shaped cookies as a treat for our guests. One last hurdle was to clean out the barn and prepare it to house our gift shop and some exhibits, as well as all the hay we would need for the winter. The brooms and shop vacuum worked overtime, and we sorted through everything that had been stored in the barn for many years.

Finally, we installed new electricity and lighting, and then completed the enjoyable task of setting up our store and some educational exhibits.

The big day was Saturday, October 9. After getting up early, doing chores and putting the finishing touches on everything, we grabbed a quick breakfast and were beginning to get the complimentary coffee and treats ready when the first cars started to arrive, a half hour before we were scheduled to open. The early birds were followed by steady stream of folks traveling up our road and searching out parking along the roads, fields, and laneways. The public continued to arrive steadily throughout the entire day and the next, despite some blustery weather. Our novelty and good PR had tickled the communities' collective curiosity, and they came out in droves.

Our successful Agritourism launch starred the fuzzy alpacas and friendly polo horses, and featured handspinners demonstrating their craft, the Alpaca Gift Shop, a wagonful of pumpkins and gourds, face-painting, exhibits on beneficial bats, beekeeping, antique farm tools, activities for children, and more. Many guests opted to take a self-guided tour along our farm lane to enjoy the farm scenery and gorge view. Old friends came out to see what we had been up to and many new friends stopped by to see what the buzz in the press and community was all about. Everyone who stopped by had great things to say about the farm and appreciated us hosting a free public event on our farm and exploring a vision of sustainable agriculture in the modern world.

Many families made a day of it visiting our partners, as between the three of us there was something for everyone in the family. Our gift shop and educational barn may be ?low-tech? but the barn has a relaxed and homey atmosphere that our visitors enjoyed. What a nice and friendly way to educate the public on agriculture. Everyone can learn a little about agriculture in the 21st century while having fun.

This coming year we are planning to host another open house weekend on Columbus Day weekend. We hope to add a few more partnerships and have some more exhibits and demonstrations for all to enjoy.


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