Nine agricultural operations in Mountain View County invited the public to tour their premises recently during Open Farm Days.
Now in its seventh year, Open Farm Days took place across the province on Aug. 17 and 18.
The weekend showcased Alberta’s agriculture industry and growing rural tourism sector.
Host farms opened their gates to share their agricultural experiences with their urban neighbours and to help them understand where their food comes from.
Area agricultural operations -- HGB Bison Ranch, Custom Woolen Mills, Double N Ranch, Fallentimber Meadery, Akeski Farms, Happiness By the Acres, Reese Cattle Company, Shirley’s Greenhouse and The Honest Box -- were among the more than 150 farms that took part across the province.
Donna Aarsby, who owns and operates The Honest Box along with husband Terry, said the event went very well.
"It was great," said Aarsby. "People all seemed very happy. We had a lot of locals come through but also a lot from big cities like Airdrie and Calgary."
The 320 acre farm, which is located east of Carstairs just off Highway 580, has a little bit of everything including six acres of gardens, plus chickens, turkeys, cattle and canola.
During the weekend, the Aarsbys sold a bunch of produce, both pre-picked and U-pick. In addition, there was a concession with a number of locally sourced products such as local bison.
"We made picnic baskets for people," she said. "They went over really well. It was a cold picnic lunch. We also had a lemonade stand run by kids."
There were also a number of vendors on site as well as a couple of local artisans. There was also U-pick, which allowed visitors to go out and pick their own veggies in the gardens.
"There was lots of interest," said Terry. "For $5 people got a bucket and could fill it with whatever they could find around the yard. It was very popular. A lot of people picked stuff they hadn't picked before."
The Aarsbys were both born and raised in Carstairs. They have three boys, all of whom live within three miles of the farm they bought 27 years ago. Their son Kyle now works at the farm as well.
All the nearby family, including multiple grandchildren, were around during Open Farm Days helping out.
This was the first year The Honest Box has been involved with the event, which helps promotes farms and ranches throughout the province.
"Our son Kyle recommended it," said Aarsby. "I do my thing but he's much more forward thinking. He's bringing a lot more to what we've done."
Nearly 82,000 people have participated in Open Farm Days since 2013, injecting close to $650,000 into the rural economy through on-farm sales, according to the provincial government. Since its launch, 484 Alberta farms have participated in Open Farm Days.
"It obviously works - we've had quite a lot of people through our gates," she said. "We were thinking just a few people would come but it's really surpassed our expectations."
Aarsby said the name of their farm, The Honest Box, came from an actual box set out on the farm.
"We were visiting Ireland and we saw these little onions hanging out of a box," said Donna. "I wanted that for our community so that anyone could have that access. Although we didn't want it to cost us anything. We already had the gardens. So we started with the little box that Terry built out of stuff out of our barn."
Aarsby said they started with laundry baskets filled with produce.
"People would just come and grab them and leave money in the honest box and off they'd go," she said. "Then it got bigger so we went with a cooler system. We had 40 coolers lined up along the fence but then we got too big for that. People would come and drop one off and pick one up."
The Honest Box ended up becoming a stand alone building with fridges and coolers, which contninues to be used to this day.
"We have customers that come shopping but we also have customers that place orders," she said. "We also have a sharing garden outside the gates. That's for anyone who can't pay for, doesn't want to pay for, or dig for someone else - that gardens for them."
Aarsby said she has always had a big garden wherever she lived. When Terry retired five years ago, he helped her with The Honest Box, along with their son.
"Our son Kyle was going to university," she said. "He would help us whenever he was home every summer. Since he graduated he has come on full-time. He takes care of all the meat and fruit. He also grows micro-greens."
Aarsby said that although the farm is not certified organic, they raise everything organic.
"We keep everything organic as I knew it growing up," she said. "We don't fertilize, we don't even water. We don't do anything. We just put our seeds in the ground. Things have to grow naturally. Either they grow or they don't. The same with the chickens. They're free range. The turkeys and they chickens each have 10,000 square foot (seperate) pens. They like that. They're happy."
- With files from Lea Smaldon
