Farm tour celebrates 50th year
SANDPOINT — A rare opportunity to spend the day in the country is coming up June 16 with the 50th annual Bonner County Farm Tour. The University of Idaho Extension Office and the Bonner County Agriculture and Forestry Committee are organizing the event.
Two busloads of participants will set off at 9 a.m. sharp from the UI Extension Office at Bonner County Fairgrounds. One will head toward Wood's Hay & Grain LLC in Colburn while the second bus will start its tour at Wildwood Grilling.
Ben and Dana Wood began making low-cost, premium livestock feed at Wood's Hay & Grain in 2013 and now offer 17 products certified by the Idaho State Department of Agriculture. Wildwood Grilling manufactures cedar planks for grilling at the old wood mill on Shingle Mill Road.
The two tour groups will switch locations for the second leg of the odyssey. Then, it is off to Clark Fork Center for lunch, courtesy of the Boundary/Bonner County Cattlewomen's Association. The homemade pies, barbecued beef and salads are always a highlight of the tour, according to association member Chris Elliott.
"The luncheon is our fundraiser for youth scholarships," she said. "We also help sponsor the pre-fair. That is our commitment to youth, to teach them about agriculture."
However, the farm tour itself is not a for-profit venture. It is primarily designed to make the non-agrarian population aware of the farms and ranches operating in the area.
"It started out with the Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce's Grassman of the Year award. It evolved into the farm tour in later years," said Elliott, whose mother was among the founders of the event.
After lunch, the tour groups will visit Mountain Cloud Farm and Bear Hill Farm. The former is a small, sustainable growing operation owned by Darren Cloud and Breigh Peterson. The produce vegetables and fruit as well as raising livestock. The latter, owned by Leslie and Greg Brady, produces organic berries, apples, pears, peaches and plums for u-pick customers and the Sandpoint Farmers Market.
When the farm tour started half a century ago, there were big farms and ranching operations to visit. Recently, it has switched its focus to small, sustainable farms and ranches raising specialty livestock like alpacas.
"We try to find places that interest people," said Elliott. "We visit different places in the area."
Approximately 90 people sign on for the tour each year, some of them traveling from different regions just for the event.
"We have a group of retired military personnel that come from all over — Seattle, Arizona, California, Florida. We also get local people and usually someone from the Farm Bureau," said Patti Speelmon of the U of I Extension Office. "The tour shows people where local products come from."
A few spaces are still available for this year's outing, which takes place June 16. Tickets until June 6 are $30 and after June 6 are $35.
Information: speelmon@uidaho.edu, 208-263-8511.