If you want your farm to be in the new edition of the Agritourism Directory, applications are due Friday, May 25. If you have not received an application via US mail or email, please email Martha Glass at martha.glass@ncmail.net or call 919-733-7887 x. 276.

Applications are also available at www.ncagr.com/agritourism. If you have a problem with meeting the deadline, please contact Martha Glass. It is important for ANA members to be in the directory. It is placed in the nine state Welcome Centers, the State Capitol, the State Legislative Building and other tourist destinations across the state.
If you want your agritourism farm or vineyard to be listed first before non-ANA members, your dues for 2007 must be paid. The ANA logo will be placed beside your name along with the Goodness Grows logo if you are a Goodness Grows member.
Dues for 2007 were due February 28, but not all 2006 ANA members have renewed. If you need to check on that, please get in touch with Martha Glass at the email or phone number above. ANA Membership applications are available at www.ncagr.com/agritourism/home.htm at the top of the side column.

Cathy Lewis, Southwest district ANA representative, graduated from the Rural Center’s Rural Economic Development Institute XVII on May 11, completing a rigorous nine-day training conducted between March and May in rural economic development topics and leadership skills.

Cathy said, “REDI was a wonderful experience! I made 24 new friends and learned so much. I now have a large number of new network friends I can call on for help and advice. We all came from different backgrounds, but with a common goal – helping rural North Carolina. Everyone at REDI felt that education is our #1 concern. By continuing to work together we hope to turn this concern into our #1 asset.” She added her thanks to ANA for offering this assistance to attend the Institute.

Cathy is a Ranlo Town Commissioner in Gaston County who also helps operate her family-owned business, Lewis Farm and Lewis Grading and Paving. One of twenty-five graduates of the annual Institute, Cathy applied for and was awarded a full scholarship for tuition, lodging and travel for the Institute. Since the Institute began in 1989, there have been 745 graduates.

In early 2008 there will be information available about the Spring session and ANA members are encouraged to apply for scholarships.

The need for accessible liability insurance at reasonable premiums is becoming a hot topic in the insurance industry. At the January ANA conference, four insurance agents presented their companies’ perspectives toward helping agritourism farmers find and afford liability insurance. One of those agents, Liz Taylor, is an ANA member from Hendersonville with Morrow Insurance Agency. David Kendall, from the Madison County Extension Office, developed an excellent power point presentation and worksheet handouts on a comprehensive risk assessment with advice relevant to any agritourism farm, and made that presentation in January.

Insurance agents at the recent ANA workshops included Randall Carpenter, Grange, of Greensboro who gave presentations at the NW and SC/SE workshops; Carl Inman, Snipes Insurance Company, Raleigh, who spoke at Hill Ridge at the North Central workshop; and Byron Ervin, with Richlands Insurance Agency in Onslow County who presented at Mike’s Farm for the NE/SE workshop. (This list of Insurance Agents impies no endorsement by the North Carolina Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services)

Joy Thomas, ANA member and owner of Son Rise Farm, Granville County, also spoke at Hill Ridge Farm and had handouts about her personal liability insurance challenge, which eventually was resolved in her favor because of the analysis she provided.

Joy’s and David’s presentations are helpful and factual in the necessary steps to take when working with the insurance agent to get the proper liability insurance. These handouts are available by contacting the Agritourism Office.

Successful Agritourism Farmers Featured At Workshop

The Agritourism Networking Association gives a hearty “Thank you!” to the ANA members who shared varied experiences at the workshops. The farmers were asked to tell why they started their farms, what challenges they had to meet as they started, what unusual things happened along the way, and what would they do differently if they were starting over.

Marilyn Cade brought with her the young couple who are interns on her farm, and that started a good discussion on how to find interns and use them successfully on an agritourism farm. David Kendall talked about building his agritourism farm and country cabin from scratch – quite a challenge, but a real learning process.

Riely and Wayne Woosley came to the Winston-Salem workshop dressed in period costumes to tell about their educational programs at Woosley Farm. Tim Pless captured the Winston-Salem group with his story about how to start and operate “all a flutter” butterfly farm. Also, Byrd Isom talked about growing apples in the Piedmont for visitors who haven’t picked apples from the trees and providing an entertaining experience at Millstone Creek Orchards.

The workshop at Hill Ridge Farm was the first held at a working agritourism farm, so host John Hill took folks on an after-dinner tour of his successful farm which is open almost year-round. Russ Vollmer talked about Vollmer Farm, about ten miles from Hill Ridge, and how the strawberry season in the Spring complements the Fall activities. Milton Ganyard unfolded the history of Ganyard Hill Farm near Durham and the challenges he has had to cope with, from hurricane damage to starting a brand-new farm and finding that people thought he was not in the agritourism business any longer, to a second year when visitor count surpassed all other years. Host Vickie McKee talked about how she and her husband David operate a McKee Corn Maze and Landscape Nursery featuring a widely-known corn maze in the Fall season.
The workshop at Mike’s Farm also drew participants who had not been there before and came early to see the farm. Famous for its home-style country dinners, the fudge and gift shop, Fall season activities and the Christmas light show among other things, guests enjoyed a presentation by Mike Lowe about how the farm has grown in stages. Butch Velez, owner of Breezy Meadow Farm and Stables, talked about managing a farm, stables, and drawing on the public’s interest in both agriculture and horses. Julia Bircher and Melissa Barnett, sisters who own A Day at the Farm in Cove City, told about the history of their family farm and how they came to decide on the educational approach to appeal to school children and young people, their parents and grandparents, and the community in the New Bern area.

At the last workshop, workshop guests enjoyed host Ron Taylor’s vineyard and spacious meeting area, located adjacent to the gift shop, before dinner and the workshop. Ron told about how he decided to get into the wine business after managing a farm and heavy equipment business and realizing he could modify one of his pieces of equipment to pick grapes mechanically. He also hosts well-known performers in shows at the vineyard. Host Margaret Shelton, Southeast district ANA representative, talked about her herb farm in Leland in nearby Brunswick County. She started out growing vegetables and learned quickly that up-scale restaurants and customers clamored for herbs. Now she supports and sells at nearby local farmers markets and supports other natural foods growers in the area. Joe Picariello talked about his unique alpaca farm in Moore County, how he and wife Ursula sell yarn and welcome school field trips throughout the year and support and network with other alpaca farmers. John Gillis and his son Andrew, who played the bagpipe before his father’s presentation, talked about the Scottish history of his family farm and how it is competing with development in the Fayetteville area. He is in the country, and the county zoning is still sympathetic to agriculture in Cumberland County. He offers a true trip away from the city at his beautiful farm, hosting school groups and other groups, and is continuing to enlarge the agritourism options on the farm.

After dinner at each of the meetings, the “networking” part of ANA really took over. The other farmers told about their farms and what they hoped to do after attending the workshop. At Lu Mil, a reporter from the Bladen Journal talked to the group about his realization that agritourism farms are so popular with the public that the media, and especially small-town newspapers, welcome invitations to visit agritourism farms and can generally find an interesting story for their readers.