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We went to Blue Hill at Stone Barns a couple weekends ago. We were early for our reservation, so we toured the farm and visited their farmer's market. The whole experience reaffirmed our desire to eat local food produced in a sustainable way. Make sure to read Dan Barber's (Blue Hill Chef) op-ed piece in last weekend's Sunday NYT.

I've visited plenty of farms (mostly dairy ;) as an adult, but it's funny - I also lived on a farm that kids would have blurry memories of now. I remember when how proud I was to show off my family's business when my class took a field trip there. It was a cider mill and helping work the cider press (an old fashioned, almost completely manual one) was my first real job.

Wilson Farms in Lexington MA has daily tours. Its really an amazing place. I highly suggest the tour and ALL there wares in the store.

I don't think I know anyone who works as hard as a farmer. Well, maybe some cooks that I know.

We toured Marin Sun Farms in Point Reyes National Seashore (northern California, about 50 miles from San Francisco) a couple months ago.

Our recap post, with links to tour sign-ups, is here:
http://marriedwithdinner.com/2008/04/06/out-to-pasture/

We were already buying most of our meat and eggs from Marin Sun Farms, and we joined their Meat CSA soon after registering for the tour, so it hasn't really changed how we eat or cook.

One small change: Now I am really reluctant to buy chicken or eggs when I can't get my hands on true pastured ones -- I'd rather go without chicken or eggs than buy from factory farms, even so-called 'free range' ones.

I grew up on a family farm (primarily wheat and canola, some pulses, not organic though) so of course I've visited it a fair amount as an adult as well.

Now, when I go, I see my dad packing it up. There was a time (when I was about 13 or so) when my dad would drop hints about wanting my sister and I to take up farming. ("There's a lot of women going into farming these days, y'know. I don't mean as farmers' wifes, either, I mean running the farm.") A few years later than that, as more and more of neighbours closed up, he stopped dropping those hints. Then he said that he wouldn't recommend it to anyone. He worked another full-time job in the oilfield in order to pay for the operating costs of the farm. Finally, this spring he auctioned off his equipment will rent, then slowly sell off, the land.

End of an era.

Myself, I keep a small vegetable garden on my city plot with varying degrees of success depending on the year. I'd love to keep animals (esp. chickens or an alpaca) and I have the space, but by-laws prevent it. There are still some non-corporate farms around on the Canadian prairies (the Hutterite colonies come to mind), but large conglomerate operations are taking over. Without the huge subsidies European and American farmers get, the family farms disappear. Knowing how an entire industry is disappearing in a relatively prosperous nation like Canada, I can only imagine how much worse this transition is in devloping nations who cannot support transitions to other industries and urbanization nearly as well.

I'm a nutrition major, and I spent last summer working with an organic dairy farm and on an organic CSA farm, in attempt to findout where food comes from. Both very, very enlightening experiences that helped me to get back in touch with the food system. I would recommend it to anyone.

No need to tour a farm. I grew up on one.

Thanks so much for coming to the Gastronomica event on Tuesday, Chris! I wish I'd known you were there - I'm a huge fan of The Kitchn and would have loved to meet you. :)

As for going to farms - I agree it's one of the most powerful ways to get connected to our food sources. The Jew & The Carrot published a list of resources for traveling to family farms. (They're mostly in the Northeast, so if you have suggestions of others, please be in touch!) Check it out here:

http://jcarrot.org/resources/family-farm-vacations/

Leah
The Jew & The Carrot

Thank you so much for writing this article and urging people to get out and visit a farm. Fourteen years ago I moved from the San Francisco Bay Area (where I grew up) to rural Missouri. I now live on a remote 240 acre farm where we naturally raise grass-fed sheep, which we eat and sell, as well as beef for ourselves, keep chickens for eggs, tend a large organic heirloom kitchen garden, etc.

My life now revolves around putting honest, real food on the table (mine and other peoples'), and I wouldn't have it any other way. We don't offer farm tours, but anyone is welcome to visit my food and farm blog, Farmgirl Fare, http://farmgirlfare.com where I share the ups and downs of my crazy country life, along with Less Fuss, More Flavor recipes - all while gently urging readers to pay attention to their food and seek out the best local and organic ingredients they can find.

Farm life isn't easy, and it was already impossible to make a living off our farm before the skyrocketing prices for gas, feed (we supplement in winter and during lambing with all natural grain - no corn), organic mineral supplements, and anything made out of metal (like fencing supplies). Then there's the threat of NAIS (http://nonais.org) hanging over us. If it continues to goes through as planned you can kiss most family farms goodbye, and we probably won't even be able to raise our own meat unless we process it ourselves (picture cutting up an 1,100 pound steer in the kitchen).

So if you care about good food, then yes, please go visit a farm! Please buy local! Please support small farmers! Thank you! : )

And speaking of visiting farms, just this morning I came across this fantastic article on Culinate by chef Kelly Myers about her visit to a nearby sheep farm:

http://www.culinate.com/columns/front_burner/grass_fed_lamb

I will be volunteering at an organic lavender farm this June. They also grow mint and rosemary, all organically:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6EbrT-3AXs
http://www.awarenessmag.com/mayjun06/mj06_annual_farm_lavender.htm