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Agritourism 2.0
111 Plays2 years ago
As we settle into fall, you may have visions of apple cider, pumpkin patches, and corn mazes dancing in your head. While we all enjoy this kind of on-farm experience, we’re joined by Emily Spencer from the University of Kentucky Center for Crop Diversification to talk about some alternative approaches to Agritourism that fall outside the traditional approaches. In addition to this discussion of “Agritouism 2.0” we talk about how we’re having fun this fall, how we think about on-farm experiences as a marketing approach vs. a pure revenue generator, and “weed speed dating.”
Questions/Comments/Feedback/Suggestions for Topics: hortculturepodcast@l.uky.edu
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Transcript
Introduction to Hort Culture Podcast
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome to Hort Culture, where a group of extension professionals and plant people talk about the business, production, and joy of planting seeds and helping them grow. Join us as we explore the culture of horticulture.
Humorous Carbohydrate Discussion
00:00:16
Speaker
Hello, I hope everybody is full of carbohydrates right now. All you listeners are full of carbohydrates. I, myself, I'm full of carbohydrates. So I hope you have that luxury in your life to just mostly be made up of carbohydrates. May you two be full of carbohydrates. Dairy products. Wait a minute, bacon though is protein. I had leftover fizzoles that is from a program I had a week ago. Yes.
Event and Ag Agent Experience
00:00:48
Speaker
Listen, I did a program with an ag agent last week and the rule of ag agents is that you have to feed people. And so we did that and we got them lots of pasta and made them sit and listen to info about record keeping. Did it work? Did you have a good crowd? We had 20 people, man. I was super pumped about it. That's not always the easiest topic.
00:01:13
Speaker
It was it was the carbs man. Go into the local facilities and ask him what the statute of limitations on the unlimited breadsticks policy. I ate the rest of them yesterday. It comes with a lot but then I ordered extra not really realizing how many came with like your pasta as well so it was just like carbs on carbs on carbs.
00:01:40
Speaker
I like that.
Taylor Swift and NFL Cultural Impact
00:01:43
Speaker
I have a more serious question to ask everyone. This is based on two American cultural phenomena that I really like, but don't quite understand why people love it so much. That is Taylor Swift and the NFL, which has just been everywhere.
00:02:03
Speaker
So I was thinking that that's what sparked this idea. But, you know, in the NFL and all the sports, they have jersey sales that have like a number and it's the player, you know, you can wear the actually we have an NFL jersey owner joining us.
Extension Uniforms Idea
00:02:19
Speaker
She can weigh in on this in a second. But I would throw out the idea of why why can't we could we get extension uniforms with numbers and our names on the back?
00:02:31
Speaker
And then, you know, sell them to the three people that would purchase them. And what number would you be if you had such a uniform? Number one, I called it. Sorry, Lexus. Wow. I despise that number. Double zero for sure. Of course. Number two is okay. First place loser. That's fine. Brett. I kind of like two.
00:02:56
Speaker
That was my college. Are there any numbers in the NFL that are just one? I don't know. Lamar Jackson is eight. Okay. I think QBs and kickers can do. Yeah. I would be number six. That is my number. My name backwards. Fun fact is Sixilla. So. I never knew that about you. Wow.
00:03:17
Speaker
I mean, that's my favorite word is any of my that is any of anything. I want to go change some passwords. I'm just saying what about you?
Interview with Emily Spencer
00:03:32
Speaker
Oh my gosh, I don't know. By the way, we have a guest. Her name's Emily. Just because it's kind of unlucky, but. That's Taylor's favorite number. Instead it is, it's your birthday. I thought it was two for two cats. Doesn't she have cats? She does have a number two. I don't know. They're the midget cats, like where I have Corgis and they're midget. She has whatever the cat. I'm sure that's not the breeding name, midget cats. Little babies. I bet if you Google it, you would sell mom. Little midget cats. That's cool. Yeah, they have short little Corgi legs.
00:03:59
Speaker
Well, our guest may have noticed an extra voice in the mix here today, a voice of reason amongst this group of clowns. Chocolate with her children rabble. We're joined today by Emily Spencer, who works with the University of Kentucky Extension Service as well on campus. And I'll let her introduce herself more thoroughly, but I would just say she's been working with us since 2020.
00:04:27
Speaker
during that crazy time, starting virtually and then now transitioning back to the hybrid thing that we do. And she brings us so many different skills and so many perspectives and experience that has really enriched our Center for Crop Diversification team. And so we wanted to have her on today and we'll talk about what we're gonna talk about. But Emily, if you had anything that you wanted, you could talk about your sweet babies that you have at home.
00:04:54
Speaker
What do they, what have they been up to lately? Talk about your chickens. You can talk about whatever, whatever you talk about.
Emily's Pets and Personal Touch
00:05:06
Speaker
I'm flattered. I'm excited to be here. Yes. So I work for the Center for Crop Diversification with Brett and I have
00:05:15
Speaker
a lot of babies at home I could talk about. Two dogs, two cats and 10 chickens. They're like my besties. So hang out with them a lot in my free time. I have a question. Do you name the chickens though? Some of them have names. My favorite. Yeah. There's one that's stunted and she has a name because she's so small.
00:05:38
Speaker
What's the name? Sounds delicious. I kid, I kid. So are you into any specific types of chickens? I've always had chickens in the past growing up and it's fond memories I have of having chickens around the farm, but are you into specific ones or just whatever?
00:06:00
Speaker
I mean, just whatever, but my favorite they have right now are, um, I have two little coach and bantams. Oh yeah. Like if you don't know what they are, they basically are like the size and shape of a soccer ball, like round and still round on the predator awareness scale. They're like extremely low. Like that slug is going to get them. Yeah. That should be flightless bird easily attached. Yes, exactly.
00:06:29
Speaker
I'm here for that. Size and shape of a soccer ball. One day I feel like that's how they're going to describe me in my old age. Looking for the woman, size and shape of a soccer ball. Curbs is like a sailor. With an attitude of a fighting chicken. She always has flowers in her room, but she will stab you if you touch them. That's the vibe I'm giving out. She just pegs in a lot.
00:06:56
Speaker
Yeah, thank you for joining us,
Podcast's Timeless and Timely Topics
00:06:58
Speaker
Emily. And so what we're trying to do this fall is to cover some topics that are a little more timeless, you know, things like garden prep or things like maybe seed selection or something like that, but also things that are a little more timely for the fall. And I think
00:07:14
Speaker
You know, it's officially been feeling a little bit cooler in the mornings, a little bit crisper. We covered, I think last week or the week before that Ray is fully in pumpkin spice latte mode. PSL to you, buddy. Engaged PSL to the uninitiated. And part of that, I think.
00:07:34
Speaker
for the people who are into this side of things, this horticultural world, local foods, all that kind of stuff. And increasingly, just more and more people, I think, in general, are into this agritourism thing. And so maybe we could talk a little bit about what we like about agritourism and the cool
Exploring Agritourism
00:07:51
Speaker
stuff there. But the main reason we're going to be coming back with Emily is she's been working on this really cool series that she can tell us more about, a video series highlighting some practices from real producers called Producer Voices.
00:08:03
Speaker
through the Center for Crop Diversification. And part of that is this agritourism 2.0, acknowledging that there is the traditional agritourism that we think of and love and enjoy going out and capturing a little farm life from on the weekends. But there's also this other cool stuff that
00:08:21
Speaker
people taking a different angle, doing some different activities that aren't the pumpkin patch and the apple picking. Um, so maybe to start, have you all, have you all hit up any agritourism venues so far this, this fall or have any plans to like personally or like professional site visits? We got to break it down, Brett.
00:08:39
Speaker
Whatever you want, ma'am. Yeah, we treat the whole person here on Torko. We've started. I mean, September 1 is just like the prelude to Halloween to me. So listen, I know that the orchard activities, we have some very good orchards here, you know, locally that we're blessed to have like really close to the house. And yeah, we have a 10 year old. So he is my excuse to go slide down the big slides at Evans Orchard and other local orchard. So yeah, we've already started. How about you guys?
00:09:08
Speaker
I live very close to one and depending on when I go to work, I mean by live close, I mean I'm within three miles of one and depending which way I go to work, I will pass it and they kind of do all sorts of stuff.
00:09:25
Speaker
pumpkins and they have the big slides and they have a zipline and they now have the spinny teacups and they also I have been told have just received the spinny teacups. Oh, okay. And I also have been told they just secured it like it is at the farm being put up a you know those swings those really tall swings that turn you and you go flying out and
00:09:51
Speaker
We scream a lot on them. Yeah, I was super pumped about them being so close to me.
00:09:57
Speaker
Hmm. Cause of the screaming. Cause you love it. I just feel like I'm Halloween. I know I won't, but I just feel like the old person who's like, get off my lawn. This is that version of that for me. I see. But other than that, their strawberries are like all the cool plant stuff. They do is, is, is pretty interesting to do. And I've been in their greenhouses and they have some beautiful hanging baskets and things like that. So there's that I'm in, I'm a grumpy.
00:10:24
Speaker
I went to one two weekends ago now and it's not really a seasonal thing because it was dyeing fabric with plants. Yeah, it was really cool, but it was seasonal because it was like black walnut, which they had just harvested because they're falling off the trees now and that kind of stuff and it was really awesome.
Educational Aspect of Agritourism
00:10:47
Speaker
I have dyed the knees and fronts of many of my clothes with black walnuts in an amateur setting. Your hands. That's really cool. Is this, do they do indigo sometimes as well or is that? Yeah, it was indigo and black walnut. Yeah, which I learned, this is kind of a side thing, but I learned that indigo is similar to a sourdough starter where once you get it going, you have to keep the bloom alive and keep feeding it and stuff like that, which is cool.
00:11:16
Speaker
Whoa. It's also really difficult to think. We could do a whole other episode on natural dyes. Cause like, I have learned a lot about them this year. It's a great idea. Super stoked and grew a bunch of plants and like did it. And anyways, sorry, side note, but that's so exciting. Can you, can you shout out, shout out where that was that you. Yeah, it was a among the Oaks herb farm. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm part of their CSA and as part of like the pickup for the quarterly CSA boxes, they always do a workshop.
00:11:46
Speaker
associated with it. How fun. Josh, I haven't been to anything yet this year, been mostly working on stuff around the house, but I saw a poster for this like, Kentucky mushroom fest that's like happening October, I was kind of curious about it and starting to look into it. Because that's cool.
00:12:07
Speaker
Yeah, so many festivals. This time of year in Kentucky, it seems like especially this time of year, the only thing that is frustrating to me is that there are so many is picking and choosing because we only have so many weekends of good weather. So it's tough. It's really tough to hit all of these. So much fun. Yeah, if you're trying to select some pumpkins or apples, you have to pick and choose about when to pick and choose.
00:12:28
Speaker
Yes, nice. I see what you did choices choice. And don't go when the school buses are going to be there. Yeah, don't do that. Yeah. It's usually during the week when you think you're like, I'm going to beat the crowds and I'm going to go there in the week and not on the weekend. There will be a school bus of succeeding as a tourist is to avoid other tourists. We can be alone together. Yes. So the things with the exception of Emily's, because she's cool.
00:12:58
Speaker
most of what we said so far is kind of that agritourism, the OG approach, you know, straw bales and falls the big season and, excuse me, and I think that that still has a huge role to play in our state.
00:13:11
Speaker
I think it provides an opportunity for folks who live in urban areas to get out and spend some time outside again recapture or capturing that sense of farm life in this really nice curated way that just so happens to be a really good earner for a lot of our producers and there are a number of successful agritourism operations but
00:13:32
Speaker
I think one of the cool things, and maybe Emily, if you could start out talking a little bit about the producer voices thing and how it kind of started out and came to be in some of the topics that you've covered. And then eventually we'll end up, I think, talking a little bit about some of your experiences with these agritourism operations that are doing things a little different from the pumpkin patch and the straw bales.
Producer Voices Series Discussion
00:13:53
Speaker
Yeah. So the producer voices series, which Brett is working with me on, he's acting like it's all me, but it's both of us.
00:14:02
Speaker
It's essentially kind of taking the stories of farmers that are doing this really awesome work and using it as a training opportunity for other producers across the state. So we have, you know, several different episodes that are in production right now. One is making time for marketing. We have like a relationship selling episode, this Agritourism 2.0
00:14:25
Speaker
We have a really cool one on farm stores, like on farm retail operations and stuff like that. And yeah, but the Agri Tourism 2.0 has been like obviously really cool episode to film just because we get to, you know, it's a little bit more creative and out of the box compared to another episode we're doing is record keeping.
00:14:47
Speaker
and get to really engage with these producers that have these awesome ideas for all different reasons, why they're doing these agritourism opportunities and kind of learning from them about why they're doing it.
00:15:02
Speaker
I just imagine putting an explicit content warning at the beginning of the record-keeping one just to get people to be like, what? You need it to be provocative. Yeah. Good marketing risk. The record-keeping video that's shaking up Kentucky. I will say that record-keeping one is low-key very, very good. I think it's going to be really cool when it comes out, but it's, you know, if people watch it. I'm going to watch it. I'm going to watch it. I'm going to watch all of them. They're all exciting. Cool, smart people talking on it.
00:15:31
Speaker
That always is a draw. And I think, yeah, I just think in general, the ethos of providing an opportunity for producers to share their information, but to do a little curation of the ideas and a little bit of like, just trimming it. All of us could use the benefits of an editor sometimes to just make our thoughts a little more streamlined. Super, super cool.
00:15:52
Speaker
The on-farm store one, I think, is really interesting because it's covering very different scales and approaches to having a retail space. Cool. Like really, truly different, like very, very bare bones, minimalist, all the way through to maybe like almost like a small grocery store. But on the agritourism front, and I just, you know, everybody else feel free to jump in. I'll be a little more quiet after this.
00:16:19
Speaker
Can you talk about a couple of the maybe the ideas that are the places that you saw that offered stuff or the kind of the spurring of that initial idea that like this is agritourism. It's just a different form of doing that. And then maybe any of the places that you've visited so far. Yeah, I think like, you know, kind of thinking about the pumpkin patch idea and like the apple orchards and that kind of stuff. You know, with
00:16:44
Speaker
the main goal for a lot of farmers I think is to have another revenue stream. I think what we're seeing with Agritourism 2.0 is possibly a different, maybe they'll make some money with it, but it's really to connect with their customers, to educate people about something that they're doing. One producer we were talking to said that she does farm to table dinners and it costs a lot of money, it takes a lot of time to set up, and she doesn't even count that as part of her
00:17:13
Speaker
you know, like revenue, it's like only her marketing budget. So it's really interesting seeing that as a marketing opportunity, which is cool. But then I'm trying to think like some of the places we've been, we went down to Sylvatica Forest Farm in Mount Vernon and they do a lot of really cool workshops like a mushroom log inoculation and that kind of stuff. But the one we were there to talk about was like an herbal medicine making workshop.
Herbal Medicine Workshop
00:17:40
Speaker
So, you know, they have a lot of people who are just interested in, you know, herbal medicine and the benefits of it and that kind of stuff. So they were providing this workshop for them and kind of utilizing like the stuff they have on the land that naturally grows, they can forage, you know, that kind of stuff, which was really cool. A totally different approach was we went out to Coleman Crest Farm here in Lexington and they were having kind of like a,
00:18:06
Speaker
it's a little bit hard to explain, but kind of like a family reunion, Brett, is that how you would describe it? Like, we're just like inviting people out to the farm to really just be out in the space, kind of like honor the history of the place, to teach people the history of the farm and have like a big dinner with the, you know, blow up slide and that kind of stuff. Yeah, so if you're not Jim Coleman, African American, like, I don't know, so how many generations farm
00:18:35
Speaker
If family's been in his farm, he has this very interesting and compelling story about the farm staying in his family and some really spectacular, amazing individuals in his family in the past and their kind of their future vision.
Jim Coleman's Farm Legacy
00:18:49
Speaker
And I think part of it, the reason I even mentioned his race in the first place is because I think that the family reunion thing you mentioned, he had called back to that.
00:18:57
Speaker
as this huge part of his life growing up that his whole family would come back to the farm once a year at least and they would have these great times and that he was trying to cultivate that type of feel and energy and environment on the farm. And I think in particular there's a lot of reasons why that's important. One of the main ones to me that jumps out is just that that
00:19:19
Speaker
cultural legacy of African American farmers in Kentucky would be very easy to lose given rates of selling the farm, given all the long history of oppression, et cetera. And so I think that that being able to kind of
00:19:35
Speaker
tell this story is a huge part of their approach. And I think it's a huge part of what they're trying to do is get more and more people out to the farm to be able to just share that story and maybe even have people imagine themselves kids or otherwise imagine themselves in agriculture in a way that maybe they hadn't before. So yeah, that family reunion thing was definitely the way that I took it to.
00:19:57
Speaker
Emily, you mentioned something where I think a lot of people, when they think of agritourism, they think of sort of that you pick idea and the slides and stuff like that, but you're picking a pumpkin, you're picking a vegetable, you're picking a flower, strawberries, whatever, but a lot of agritourism now I think is going to either like a workshop type design or
00:20:17
Speaker
you know or that kind of share a meal like I've seen a lot of you know I'm of course in the flower world so I've seen a lot of like even people who are coming to the farm to like paint and so they have somebody come in and do teach them how to paint a floral you know something but they're on the farm surrounded by the flowers so it's not really as much about like the flowers themselves or the you know yoga in the flower fields or you know that style
00:20:44
Speaker
of agritourism, which is, you know, short, sweet and to the point, maybe it doesn't does or does not involve the farmer, but it's getting people around that.
Community Connection Through Workshops
00:20:53
Speaker
And then like the workshop side of it as well. And I've heard some people say like, you know, like Silvatical Farm is a great one, like right, they're selling mushrooms, they do that, but then they teach people how to grow their own mushrooms. And there's kind of this idea, I think with farmers, like, why would I teach them how to do that, they're not going to come back and buy that stuff for me at market or whatever. And
00:21:12
Speaker
It's not really like that. I think my experience with that as well as what I've seen other farms do is you can sell them a kid or do a workshop and teach them how to design. If anything, it gives them more of appreciation for what you do and it connects them to you a little bit more. They know how much hard work it is. They're probably apt to buy more from you because they're like, you know what? I'm going to leave it to you.
00:21:35
Speaker
on that. Has that been on all the cool things that you've seen, you know, very different worlds than what I'm used to? Has that been your experience? Absolutely. Yeah. No, I think that's such a good point. And just like going off of that, it makes me think of like, you know, in Kentucky and I'm sure elsewhere, like in 2020, we saw this like huge rise of the popularity of agritourism because people, you know, couldn't be inside at, I don't know, Gaddytown or something.
Pandemic's Effect on Agritourism
00:21:59
Speaker
They had to be out at the farms. It was like a really good space. And I think something else that like
00:22:04
Speaker
maybe we've learned to treasure coming out of COVID is the importance of connection. So these smaller opportunities like connection to the land, connection to each other, and connection to the people that grow our food. I think these agritourism opportunities are a perfect mesh of all of those things that the people, I don't know, I feel really value.
00:22:28
Speaker
These agriturism operations, they will always be fascinating to me because we're lucky in Bourbon County here. We have some awesome examples of agriturism operations and four relatively large farm stores that are
00:22:44
Speaker
located within the county here, along with a lot of other agritourism venues. But just what motivates people and people's backgrounds that motivate them to get into agritourism, which is much different than just straight line production.
00:22:59
Speaker
you know, is always fascinating to me. And I've seen some really good examples of where people have lots of production experience and they dip their toes into agritourism related endeavors. And it wasn't for them when I thought that they would succeed. And I've worked with folks that really don't have any production experience and they just blindly go into agritourism related ventures. And there's some examples out there where they're doing very well right now and it would terrify me. But what's fascinating is
00:23:30
Speaker
What motivates people to do this? Because this agriturism, a whole farm approach is very complex. You're not only producing, but you're selling, you're marketing, and you're handling all of these other things, which is an incredible skill set to have. But yeah, these are just so fascinating. And I look forward to hearing all of these stories for some of the reasons that I just mentioned. Because these agriturism, I guess there's a lot of moving parts is what I'm getting at in agriturism operations.
00:23:59
Speaker
And it's pretty cool that some producers make that work and make it work very well. And each one of them have a different set of objectives.
00:24:08
Speaker
that I've worked with. So no two operations are the same, truly, truly, truly. So yeah, it's fascinating. Do you have any insights on the motivations, Emily?
Value Addition in Agritourism
00:24:16
Speaker
I know you mentioned earlier, somebody mentioned earlier about how thinking of it as their marketing budget rather than an event that's trying to generate revenue. Any other motivations that these people tend to have, like educational slash
00:24:30
Speaker
enrichment outlooks. I remember you said the other day something about there might be some people was trying to just get their what, Cobb House or something else built. Did you mention that to me?
00:24:42
Speaker
It wasn't me. I would say something cynical like kind of, you know, the free labor aspect of like, yeah, I told you all about that one flower farmer who did like a speed dating thing where they weeded her garden beds and like, in like a strap before you invite us to come in with your beds. Yeah, there's a there's a flower farm loving fresh flowers in Philadelphia and she did like a
00:25:07
Speaker
It was like speed dating and like you had like a flower bed and they like speed dated while they waited. And I was like, that's freaking brilliant. Brilliant. And, or like, and I don't know if it was like BYOB or something like that, but yeah, it was brilliant. We dating the heck with the speed date. And let's be.
00:25:23
Speaker
No deceptive marketing here. It's weed dating. Well, of course I could get in here. You have to clarify. That's true. That could derail very quickly. Sorry. Maybe we'll, maybe we'll wordsmith that a little bit. Yeah. It kind of reminds me of like the first farm that I worked on. It was around this time of year and we were going to be planting garlic.
00:25:42
Speaker
And there was a group from the farm that we were trying to connect with, like buyers at like a regional Whole Foods, and we got them to plant a row of garlic for us, which they found would be this, you know, really enriching experience being out in the country and being productive. And like me and my friend who would have had to do it, we're like, yeah, it's great. You know, thanks. You guys are doing a great job.
00:26:10
Speaker
I just, I just remembered. So say our friend, our friend, Sarah, uh, Gerkin was telling me about some workshop or some people had come and do straw bale house. Um, and it was building their house. And then people were learning how to build that house, that type of house in the process. So I did not have that one is not attributable to a fever dream. Um, Emily, you're not making this one up. That one, that one is 90% true. Emily, I think you were going to say something.
00:26:38
Speaker
I was just going to say, as far as another motivation that's come up, I think a lot of producers that are doing these smaller ones, it's just another value add to their product. It's not a whole other operation like a lot of the bigger agritourism places are, but it's just this added value you get just for being their customer.
Farm Meals as Connection Opportunities
00:27:02
Speaker
or something. So kind of going back to what Alexis said about it really is connecting you to them in a way that's unique.
00:27:10
Speaker
One of our farms does the meals like that, I wanna think, because when we're talking about farm to table meals, they do that several events a year, but it's not, I have a feeling, and I've talked to them, and I have a good relationship with them, but they do these meals, but I know it's not from a pure economic standpoint, it's also to connect the clientele as a value add to the operation to bring them closer and closer and closer to the farm experience, and therefore bringing them closer
00:27:38
Speaker
into them. And it's like a value add proposition, I think, on top of any economic gains they may have for sponsoring their food products in a very nice meal. But yeah, even that wasn't simple. In my tiny man brain, I was like, hmm, economics, where's the dollars behind this? But it's more than just that. And with agritourism operations, you can take any one facet of the operation. And it's usually more than just what you think it is.
00:28:05
Speaker
How they got to a point of growing shiitake mushrooms on natural logs or, you know, working with dyes or working with a farm to table meal. And that's what's so fascinating to me and why I'm excited to hear these stories because I want to hear the narrative. I love the narrative and how people get from point A to point B. Sounds like a great project. I think another aspect of.
Agritourism 2.0 Innovations
00:28:29
Speaker
But that I appreciate about the 2.0 component, especially, you know, within horticulture is that it really pushes both in terms of just conversations within, you know, people within ag professionals, but also the public in general, it pushes concepts about what is and is not included within farming or agriculture, etc. It's not just this.
00:28:50
Speaker
stereotypical image you have in your mind, it's all of these other things. And I think in some ways, it kind of blends elements of what might might have been called like eco tourism at some point. Totally. And which, you know, can mean all kinds of different things. But it really emphasizes that just that general kind of connection to the land and then the just wide variety of crops like in horticulture that we have.
00:29:14
Speaker
Is that, I mean, like, would you say, Emily, many of the farms that are doing some of this 2.0 stuff, do they feel a little more non-traditional or do they, is it kind of a mix that you've seen? Kind of a mix, but I mean, probably leaning to the more non-traditional.
00:29:31
Speaker
It's horticulture, remember Brett? That's right. By default, by definition. I would love to hear about some of the ones that are maybe start most non-traditional to the everyday one or as close to the everyday one we're used to. It's the top of your head. This isn't necessarily agritourism, but would you just share really quick, did you end up going to the cavern thing down in the scuba thing?
00:30:00
Speaker
No, I didn't, sadly. No, I haven't gone yet. Still on the agenda, but... Could you just say what that is? I had never heard of that and it feels... I don't know if it's not really... Maybe it is agritourism, I don't know, but can you just say what that is? It's cool as... I mean, it's definitely ecotourism. We're like combining them, but they... It's this like old quarry down in Hopkinsville that is like... I think it's like 150 or 200 feet deep,
00:30:29
Speaker
And they've, you know, it's filled with water now and it's like super clear and they've sunk a bunch of like school buses and boats and all this crazy stuff years ago. And now it's like this like regional scuba diving destination. But also terrifying. Yeah. It's actually like really cool. And like, you know, fish have like made homes and these like old buses and it's just like a,
00:30:54
Speaker
I don't know, like a very picture down into the deep. Yeah, it's an example of where you see the bus and it's okay to go out and go on in.
00:31:05
Speaker
That might be the most, the most out there. Yeah, that is like aquaculture. Is it like aquaculture? Are there like, right? I mean, there might be, I don't know. Just so it's topical. Let's go down there and you grab a whole bunch of shrimp and you grab a good example of one that's like,
00:31:34
Speaker
kind of a traditional place, like Shaker Village. It's like this, we have this idea of what it is and what you go there for, but they're really dipping their toes into these more unique agritourism, ecotourism things of really paying attention to the bugs that are here at different times of years and doing specific tours for that kind of stuff, or maybe a full moonwalk to ground yourself and that kind of stuff.
00:32:04
Speaker
That's a cool example because it is like, you know, unique for their space, but it's like really getting people to care about that land, you know, and just like it's like I think it was a good example, too, because like, you know, kind of opening producers minds, like you have all of this land, like, let's say you have, you know, 50 acres, even there's something and like, yeah, you have so much, you know, this percentage of it in production, but you can do all this really cool stuff on the other section, too. It doesn't just have to be engaging with crops or anything like that.
00:32:35
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's, uh, I live really close to Shaker and it's really cool that they do. They use what they have, right? So like you were saying, like the moonwalks or the wildflower walks or, you know, the, you know, these insect cool insects. And it costs them nothing besides a guide. Like they have to have somebody knowledgeable, right? But it's not like you have to have jars. You have to have all of these things that you would for a you pick or something along those lines. Like, yeah.
00:32:59
Speaker
It's just like show up at this place at this time, give me your money or don't like maybe it's just like a free tour to, you know, get people wanting to come back.
Creative Agritourism Ventures
00:33:09
Speaker
And then like, they just have to have a person to lead, you know? Yeah. I used to, uh, I had a friend who was actually doing that at Shaker, the Dylan who used to work out there, but he came from.
00:33:19
Speaker
kind of an eco-tourism background and it very much crosses over this like, essentially, you're interpreting the landscape for people, whether it's an agricultural landscape and like management going on or, you know, for a succession or whatever. It's all kind of the same skill set of walking people through a place and explaining to them what they're what they're kind of seeing or what's going on behind what they're seeing.
00:33:42
Speaker
Are we calling it Shaker now? Is that the name? I call it Shaker City. Oh my God. Shaker City. For those of you who may be listening from other places, there's a place called Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill or something like that. It's a non-profit organization now, but a lot of old buildings. It's an old Shaker settlement. Current policies are, yes, children are allowed, but back if you didn't know anything about the Shakers, the policy was the children were strictly forbidden.
00:34:15
Speaker
That was my attempt at a joke. They're also a certified organic farm. They were CSA and also to their restaurant.
00:34:25
Speaker
And so it's this organization that's familiar to us, known to locals as Shaker. Shaker Metro. Shaker Vegas. Yeah, exactly. I haven't heard of any of these, but I'm hoping to see some like,
00:34:42
Speaker
Spooky agritourism opportunities coming up. Yes. We are talking. Yeah. Here in Georgetown that do that. I think some of the equestrian trails, they convert to like spooky trails, hayrides with differing levels of terror included for the whole family. So yeah. And I've seen that grow some in the past, I don't know, 20 years where you have a trail or you have some land. It can be just kind of an add on an extra draw.
00:35:10
Speaker
Or it can be a main feature of operations, but yeah, that's, uh, would corn mazes be
Spooky Trails and Unique Offerings
00:35:15
Speaker
included in that? I'm just curious, would you include like a, not that a corn made mace has to be terrifying, but would that be sort of the spooky stuff or is that just a. Should be people jumping out of the corn. Maybe that's pretty scary. Just standing there quietly staring at you while you walk through. That would be me on any giving day. Just Brett freezing the way he does. Yeah. You just. Just frozen in time as you walk by him. Yes.
00:35:40
Speaker
Yeah. Nailed it. What are some of the other ones Emily that you've seen that are, you know, maybe doing something a little bit different? Oh gosh, really putting me on spot. I feel like we've talked about, you know, the ones that we've done the episodes on. There's, oh, there was one actually that's in the pipeline. I haven't confirmed it yet, but doing like
00:36:05
Speaker
harvesting like, I don't even know the proper term, but like fur from alpacas and like making. Shearing. Yeah, shearing alpacas and making yarn and dyeing it. So it's like the whole process of it, which would be pretty cool. I know Annie
00:36:20
Speaker
Brett's partner would probably really like that one. That's awesome. Yeah. I think agro-tourism- Love to share. Yeah, love to share. We're talking about 2.0, and I think to me the 2.0, and this is just my personal interpretation of it, is like,
00:36:38
Speaker
How do we make agritourism more simple? I think a lot of the 2.0 is simplifying the idea. You don't have to have the spinny teacups. You can just use with what you have. Regular teacups are fine. You only get on the teacups after you have drank a gallon of cider and eight and eight donuts. That's the rule.
00:37:04
Speaker
And maybe it's just a, um, maybe it's not open to everybody. Maybe it's not on like a free for all or it's, you know, that you have like, we've been saying you don't have to put a lot of money into it. So like one, I've personally been dabbling with, I was listening to another podcast, my digital farmer Corinna bench. Uh, I think a lot of us on here have listened to her, but she was talking about how to like.
00:37:27
Speaker
celebrate your top five, top 10, however many best customers, and that's like however you define your best customer, right? Like it could be money spent, but it could also be people who talk you up, whatever that is. And like I was thinking, okay, well, these are the people who keep wanting to connect with me. I don't do any type of accurate tourism on our farm with flowers, but like I could have 10 people
00:37:48
Speaker
that are my 10 best customers, come out, hand them a jar and be like, you can pick because I can manage that. I can teach them how to pick. I can be there with them and it doesn't cost me anything but a couple mason jars, you know, and
00:38:02
Speaker
we make that connection together. That's something where if you do it once or twice a year and you're only doing it for those people, they're probably going to spend a lot more or they're going to talk you up a lot more. If you're worried from an insurance perspective, you can get one day liability insurance for minimal amount that would cover 10 people. You don't have to get a full big policy for that. You don't have to get a lot of permanent infrastructure. You put a tent up with some water.
00:38:31
Speaker
You don't have to have bathrooms, you know, you let them know ahead of time, because it's just 10 people that you're kind of, you know, handling into. To me, it seems like an easy way to dip your toe in and it is making that connection
Simplifying Agritourism Events
00:38:42
Speaker
within. Maybe you charge and maybe you don't. But 2.0 to me is like, how do we simplify this into something that I don't have to have a wagon for and I don't have to have school buses of children out for. And I still reap the benefits of agritourism.
00:38:58
Speaker
I have a different take and I think with our takes combined, we will be having agritourism win it. I think just based on what I'm hearing Emily say, it's also offering things sometimes that may appeal to an audience that traditional agritourism wouldn't appeal to as much.
00:39:21
Speaker
So like I'm thinking of the stereotypical childless millennial young professional class. Yeah. A few of us among this, you know, I don't have, I personally don't have a kid that I would need to take out and let them run around and go down slides and have all that fun.
00:39:40
Speaker
He's just an excuse for me to do it for him. If you need an ant to go down a slide with your kid, I'm here for that. I find if you're confident, Ray, they'll let you go down no matter what, even if you're not with a child. I can go to Kings Island all day long. No longer get weird looks. I have a 10-year-old, but yeah, yeah. I'm just curious. Different sorts of things. I just think also there's some people who are going to go on an herb walk or
00:40:04
Speaker
moon, moonlight walk that maybe, you know, they, they're looking for something a little more secluded, a little bit quiet. A little bit of that, like a poppy days. Alexis, I think you've helped me out with some issues out of middle Springs and you know, they're of that exact mindset, Brett. They're looking for different things that they're really like, even on the fringe of horticulture, not radically, but they're looking for things to differentiate themselves. I think they've had a Lily day and a poppy day.
00:40:29
Speaker
and photo ops days daffodils they had the daffodil days and did very well with that it's it's not like it's really really super different but they're very targeted on very specific things and they've done really well with just having theme days they're like well they you know it's talking to in other days like whatever you know the theme day what's what's coming up so yeah they they kind of one of those days sort of look like like it's when those things are in bloom people come out and harvest copies and there's all these beautiful
00:40:59
Speaker
photographs that come out with them tagged on Instagram and all the social platforms. It's giving them incredible differentiation and free market so their reach has just exploded and done really well because they're doing things that not everybody else does.
00:41:15
Speaker
And it's easily identifiable with them because you know people really good about tagging them and they've really kind of landed on something that's sort of a novel approach. To doing these different things and it's not general it's very specific top days.
00:41:32
Speaker
you hit on something which i think was like so cool and important is that you know if you have a farm and you're not necessarily growing on all of it that doesn't mean that you can't make some sort of money or market the other parts of your farm and
00:41:48
Speaker
Know in a very simple way and so one one farm I know that's doing that and maybe a little bit more intensive than what you're talking about But like could easily be back down to Riverbend blooms is a flower farm down in Bowling Green and what she's done this year They have a really big farm
00:42:03
Speaker
They do corn and soybean and things like that as well.
Marketing Through Creative Photo Spots
00:42:06
Speaker
But what she's done this year is they have all these essentially cover crop fields, a field of red clover, a field of different wildflowers, a field like there's all these different fields. And she got a grant to get those tall flags that you can see as you drive by.
00:42:25
Speaker
when she put them all in order and she's got these flags that say like field one field two field three and she puts online like when each field is blooming and people can come whenever they want to those fields she's not necessarily there and they reserve a spot online and the inner calendar and like uh you know people can come out and get their photo taken like with their family or they can even come pick some flowers if they want i mean they're not
00:42:50
Speaker
You know that but what that seems to have done is when she does have a you pick or she does sell bouquets off the farm for like actual product people know all about her they've been to the farm they know where to find her there they found you know.
00:43:06
Speaker
and all those photographers tag her farm and so people are like where is this where is this and so yeah she's managing those but then she's gonna flip them and she's gonna crop those so she's giving herself a cover crop she's improving her soil and then later you know she might move those somewhere else and so she's improving her farm's soil structure or pollinator habitat doing all those things we tell you to do
00:43:28
Speaker
but she's getting something out of
Family and Community in Agritourism
00:43:30
Speaker
it. And, um, you know, if that means that you're just like getting an NRCS grant and putting a couple acres in, uh, you know, pollinator field and then like telling people they can come walk around on it, uh, other than insurance. I mean, it's kind of a low key way to market yourself. I got a question for you guys.
00:43:51
Speaker
anybody that has experience with this, but is the story of agritourism operations in Kentucky generally the story of families just rattling around my head? I mean, is the whole family involved or is that a typical situation from your guys experience? I would love to hear, you know, any kind of insight you guys can provide on that.
00:44:15
Speaker
You mean in terms of the people who are hosting the ag tourism? They have a, like a plot of land or a location. I mean, is it pretty typical? Yeah. I mean, I think like, if I think back to, you know, the more, these more like traditional agro tourism opportunities, I would say yes, just because, um, they're really big, but they're like more child.
00:44:39
Speaker
focused. I mean, I go to the pumpkin patch with my friends, you know. And I haven't, no, nothing comes to mind right now, but I'm sure there are also really niche ones targeted towards children as well. Yeah. I mean, but even like on the management side, right, Ray, like,
00:45:00
Speaker
Yeah, just the whole thing because, you know, sometimes these operations are considered, you know, all hands on deck within a family, adults and children or other relatives.
00:45:10
Speaker
or I don't know, family units sometimes could be more conceptual like a community unit. But it seems like it literally for these operations, they're so complex and so big. It either takes a village to raise them up or it takes a rather large family unit to manage all of these different pieces to the operation. And that's another fascinating thing to me is that there's usually some kind of community component or some motivation
00:45:35
Speaker
to make people want to do these things and then sustain these things. No one person can maintain these, especially the larger agritourism ventures and operations. It takes more than just that. I've never personally worked with one that's just like a single person that hires all the labor out. I've never personally seen that. I'm sure it's out there.
00:45:57
Speaker
Among the Oaks though, I mean, those are the people that work there, right? For like their type of stuff. Yeah, two people. I think, you know, one typology of agritourism, management structure, et cetera, or history that I've seen, it's not universal by any means, but it is, there's a traditional, you know, tobacco, cattle, something or other farm.
00:46:26
Speaker
And the commodity stuff isn't doing as good as it used to, or it's just, you know, whatever. And so the, in some cases, you know, to gender it a little bit based on what I've seen, the wife will start doing some agritourism type stuff. And then they realize, holy moly, we just made a lot of money doing that. Retail prices are different than wholesale. So then there's more involvement and kind of a transition toward doing more of that, uh, agritourism focus or, or if the,
00:46:54
Speaker
you know, again, this is not universal at all. But in the more traditional, if the husband's the farmer and the wife is sort of the business manager of the operation, the husband will come up with good ideas for how to structure the pumpkin patch or how to, you know, install such and such thing that in a way that's going to work really well for the classes to come out or for people to come out or whatever or grow particular varieties or figure out how to grow this or how to grow that. And then over time, there's sort of that
00:47:19
Speaker
combination. I think in some of the agritourism 2.0, sometimes you'll have both parties within a relationship or the whole family involved right from the get go because they're kind of all on the same page and it's not an adapting away from one style to another. But I think in general, yeah, anyone who's been successful would tell you that community support is absolutely critical, especially ongoing community support, not just the one time a year that an individual will come out. There's a little bit more of a
00:47:48
Speaker
buy in and seeing value in having that nearby too. Alexis was talking about the being three miles away and there's aspects about it that are not necessarily exciting. That being a good neighbor can be a part of that, I think too. But yeah, that's a really interesting question, right?
00:48:07
Speaker
Yeah, just I've seen so many different scenarios. There's, you know, little, you know, smaller operations that are more compact than there's these larger sprawling operations that incorporate both elements of traditional ag and then, you know, depots of water with school buses buried and everything in between. Once again, there's no two that I've ever worked with that are the same. And in some cases there might be generations that are being raised up within families. And that's one of the motivating factors is to somehow keep them
00:48:38
Speaker
on maybe a family farming operation and they realize that there's change needed economically to make it sustainable for more family members. I'm working with a large operation right now. That's the case where there's like three generations involved and the youngest generation is, hey, we need to restructure things to look at our cashflow. Yeah. So all kinds of motivators, motivations.
00:49:01
Speaker
I had a question for Emily that I have already forgot. I'm trying to listen more instead of thinking about my retort, which means that I forget what I was going to say. And I'm like, I remember what you said, but I don't know what I'm supposed to say. There is your first mistake. Why are you listening to everyone else? You should be ready with your own comment. Well, okay. Then I'll ask this as we kind of like,
00:49:27
Speaker
Oh, no, I remember, Emily, when can we find these video? I mean, you talked about a lot of really cool videos that you guys have been doing that I'm super excited for. When and where can we find those?
Producer Voices Series Launch
00:49:43
Speaker
So, rough timeline. It's rough timeline. We now have a computer that can actually process the 4K video. Wow.
00:49:55
Speaker
But sometime in October, we'll have the first episode at least up. Definitely on the CCD website, the CCD YouTube page, and then Facebook. And hopefully, it'll be shared out among people. I'm going to share the crap out of it.
00:50:10
Speaker
It'll be everywhere you look. Everywhere. You can't escape it. Awesome. I'll also just mention in addition to all the other things that she's doing, if you've noticed, if you're a follower, a long time follower of the CCD social media and you've noticed an uptick in quality in the last several months. Yes, I have. That is attributable to Emily doing that. She's done a fantastic job and I think just so much better than I could even imagine doing at this point.
00:50:39
Speaker
And so, yeah, really, really proud of that. Also, perhaps Emily's greatest quality is she is a day one hort culture podcast listener. Nice. Yeah, every episode.
Emily's Contribution to the Podcast
00:50:53
Speaker
I felt so cool. It was like we'd only put out a couple episodes, I think. And I met Emily for the first time in person. And she was like, I listened to your podcast. I was like, we believed before episode one. I felt like the coolest person alive. I was like, is this, like, am I Taylor Swift? Like, what is happening?
00:51:09
Speaker
video so we could be recognized, Alexis. Listen, I'm fine with it. I look fine today. It's just one button away. That's all we need. I just need to push the button. I should be videoing everybody for our Instagram. Everybody say hi. Hi. You're checking that with flash. Yeah, it's with flash. Remember that time earlier when I asked that really cool question about what Jersey number you would have an extension? Yeah. It went about as well as it just did now.
00:51:35
Speaker
Yeah. All right. Well, let's close up this episode. Thank you so much for visiting with us, Emily. Really appreciate it. You guys. Sorry. I was listening to myself talk. All right. Really quick. All right. If you were going to do any type of agritourism, like sky's the limit. You have all the money, all the land, all the, whatever that you need, what would you do? Josh, go. Uh, CSA potluck with farm tour, probably.
00:52:03
Speaker
Okay. All right. Because it would be interesting what I'm doing with the land. So you're doing like full, like the whole meal, your pigs. Love it. Cool. Okay. Ray. Non-timber forestry products. Oh, gross stand with paths and things like that. Maybe a fairy garden in the middle. I don't know. Nice. Nice. Brett. Just saying. Filled tree hardwood reclamation and drying, processing and drying. Emily.
00:52:33
Speaker
This isn't a refined thought, but I'm thinking some kind of like foraging thing, but with chickens. I'm stuck between the one that you all know that I'm going to say, which is like a, um,
00:52:54
Speaker
design and dine type situation where there's like big family style tables in the middle of
Hosts' Dream Agritourism Projects
00:53:00
Speaker
the flower field. And then we make something pretty, but also I'm really getting into, uh, like doing tapping maples. And I think that would be a super job making maples work from the beginning to the end, like kind of a multiple day type situation. Yeah, that's good stuff.
00:53:20
Speaker
It's just on my mind right now. All right. Well, we are so happy to be so recording. Emily, thank you so much for being here. Thank you so much for listening.
Podcast Wrap-Up and Future Teasers
00:53:30
Speaker
You hear that listeners? You too could be on the podcast, all five of you, uh, if you want, but, uh, we're, we're excited next week. We're going to talk about garlic, I think. So that's keeping it timely. Uh, timely and tasting.
00:53:46
Speaker
If you have any thoughts about what you would like to hear about, we've been getting some info and that's where we come up with some of those ideas. We always tell you. So feel free to email us at hortculturepodcast at l.uky.edu. You can also follow along with us. You can send us a DM if you want on our Instagram page, which is hortculturepod.
00:54:09
Speaker
So check us out on there. I am trying to channel my inner Emily by having good social media for us. So I'm doing that. We'd also love if you would leave us a review. I am thinking, and I haven't told anybody else in this group this yet, but I am thinking about doing some sort of swag bag, sending out a swag bag to people who leave us some reviews. So I'm still dabbling. If you want a swag bag, DM me.
00:54:34
Speaker
I can contribute a signed headshot. I asked Fred if CCD had any swag, like pens or something. He was like, no, we have nothing. I was like, okay, ready? We're getting our own clothing. We're gonna come up with some stuff. We can do this. We'll come up. So please leave us a review. How about we do the first review after this podcast airs. We'll get a swag bag and then we'll do like a drawing or something like that. I'm just gonna say, I'm gonna put it out into the atmosphere that we're gonna do this. Emily's like, I am getting on.
00:55:03
Speaker
You can absolutely leave a review for the podcast episode you're on. But we would love that. It helps other people find us. So it pleases the algorithm. But I think that's all. We hope you had a great time. We hope you have a great time. We always do. And have a wonderful day. We hope that as you grow this podcast, you will grow with us and join us next week. We're talking garlic.