By Burton Cole
FALMOUTH — Agricultural tourism is gaining in popularity. The Pendleton County Cooperative Extension Office and area producers are taking advantage of that with Mistletoe and Farm Market Holiday Farm Trail.
The Holiday Farm Trail, which debuted in November, makes stops at seven sites for a variety of ag-related fun, educational and farm store experiences, according to Lindie Huffman, extension agent for agriculture and natural resources.
“It’s a really cool thing,” Huffman said.
“Ag tourism has really picked up in the last 20 years, but in the last five years, since COVID, there’s such an interest to connect with nature, to connect with people.”
Events such as the Holiday Trail let people visit farms and see firsthand that way of life, she said.
“This way, you get the experience, plus connection, plus local products.”
Like the annual Kentucky Wool Festival, the Holiday Trail so far has been attracting both residents of rural Pendleton County and visitors from urban areas outside of Pendleton.
“It’s the beautiful, fun, magical way to create memories,” Huffman said.
The underlying mission is to increase awareness of the rural way of life and to support farmers and small businesses. Many people don’t know where their food comes from or what it takes to produce it, she said.
“My mission in life is to keep farmers farming and to keep families fed,” Huffman said.
“We’re getting creative in how to make these connections.”
Judging by the reception so far, the Holiday Farm Trail will become an annual event, she said.
SAVING FARMS
Kentucky is losing 250 acres of farmland every day to highways, housing and commerce, she said. “All of these things are important, but isn’t food production important? Isn’t this way of life important?”
So another purpose of ag tours is to spread awareness of food production and the farm life so that urban neighbors will champion the rural lifestyle as well, she said.
Pendleton County isn’t feeling the loss as much as the rest of the commonwealth, “but people are going to start missing the farms.”
Outsiders see all the equipment and land and think that farmers are doing well. But cash liquidity is low, and the average age of Kentucky farmers is 56, 57, Huffman said.
“When the farmland is gone, it never comes back. We can’t make more land.”
The idea for the Holiday Farm Tour began as a grassroots effort.
“A few of the farms came to me and said, ‘We want to work together to promote agriculture and tourism,’” Huffman said. “I said, ‘This is amazing.’ The community of our farmers who technically are in competition are working together.”
But then, that’s how the Pendleton County farm community is, she said.
Each farm designs its own event. Working together as the Mistletoe and Farms tour gives them joint advertising, including billboards and flyers, and coordination through the Cooperative Extension Office.
It all falls under the Extension Office’s “Pendleton Farms are Fun” program designed to celebrate and promote local agriculture, foster community connections and to create cross-promotional events “to promote agriculture and let people know where their food comes from,” Huffman said.
The next steps include organizing a social mixer for local farmers and ag businesses to explore other opportunities for tourism, she said.
Holiday Farm Trail Events
The Mistletoe and Farm Market Holiday Farm Trail began Nov. 17, and some of the events — such as wreaths and wine at Rose Hill Farm in Butler, Christmas photos at Hilltop Highlands Cattle Farm in DeMossville, and A Very Farmers’ Market Christmas at the Farmers’ Market in Falmouth — have already passed for this year.
Holiday Farm Trail events still to come include:
• Date Night and Vendor Market, 6 to 9 p.m. Dec. 13, BlackSheep Farmstead, 30 Hidden Hollow Drive, Falmouth — Shop with vendors and the farm store, sip cider or cocoa by the fire, stroll through a light display spanning several acres.
• Faith Acres Farm Christmas Shop, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dec. 14, 15, 21 and 22, Faith Acres Farm, 107 Tree Top Drive, Butler — Along with the regular farm products such as honey, salsa, pickles, relishes, jams, jellies and herbal teas are arts, crafts, ornaments and gift boxes.
• Holiday Lights and Miniature Village, 6 to 9 p.m. Dec. 14, 15 and 28, BlackSheep Farmstead — Experience the farm under twinkling lights and meet animals. The farm store will be open. Free, but donations will be accepted for the “animal cracker fund.”
• Fresh Greenery Wreath Workshop, 11 a.m. or 6 p.m. Dec. 17, Pendleton County Extension Office, 45 David Pribble Drive, Falmouth — Craft your own 8- to 10-inch wreath to take home. Cost is $20. Preregistration is required by contact the Extension at 859-654-3395 or at pendleton.ca.uky.edu
• Christmas lights and live Nativity, 6 to 9 p.m. Dec. 20 to 22, Kirsch Family Farm, 35 Jacobs Road, Butler — Celebrating its 32nd year of creating holiday magic, the Kirsch Family’s “True Meaning of Christmas” festival includes more than 200,000 lights and 175 whimsical figures from gingerbread men to ice skaters, and includes a live Nativity with farm animals and family members in full costume. Entry is free.