Participant with Kingston/South Frontenac Open Farm Days
Collective Joy Farm, located in Kingston, Ontario, is a year-round indoor urban farm growing microgreens, herbs and seedlings. They also sell whole food products, ready-made meals and juices.
Collective Joy Farm participated in Kingston/South Frontenac Open Farm Days in 2023. Here’s what they have to say about their experience.
What were your motives behind participating in Open Farm Days?
The primary reason behind participating in open farm days (OFDs) was to gain exposure and interest in what we are doing in Kingston and let people know that we are here. It also allowed us to facilitate conversations between us as farmers and our consumers. We don’t just grow/provide food – we also offer education in conjunction with various community organizations. One of our goals as a business is to provide education to the public about growing their own food and OFDs provided us with both a platform and consumers to do so.
People are starving to be connected to nature and where their food comes from.
What types of experiences could visitors enjoy on site at your farm?
We structured our OFD experience as an open house. Visitors could come and view our grow room and purchase our products. We also took the time to chat with visitors to provide them with education on how to get started with growing their own produce at home. For the 2024 OFD we plan to keep our format the same as we found it to be a successful way to meet our goals of awareness and education.
What advice would you give to other farms considering participating in Open Farm Days?
We know firsthand that farmers are incredibly busy. If you plan on participating in OFDs, we highly recommend that you think about what works best for you as a farm based on your goals and your capacity. Consider the dates of the event and what is happening in your business at that time (are you in mid-growing season, harvesting season etc.), then pick a specific time/ format that will work for you. Personally, we chose not to charge/ticket our event because our main goal was to drive as much traffic as possible to the business.
What were the positive outcomes that resulted from participating in Open Farm Days?
The biggest benefit from participating was reaching new customers. It also really helped to raise awareness about the farm (location, what we do) and urban farming as a relatively new concept. We also chatted with many people who were interested in more in-depth workshops around growing produce at home.
What do you believe is the value of agri-tourism? Who does it help and why does it matter?
Agri-tourism can benefit both the farm and the visitor. It helps form relationships between the farmers and city people and raise awareness around food. People are starving to be connected to nature and where their food comes from and farmers have incredible knowledge and experience that others can learn from. If you have the time and capacity to expand into agri-tourism offerings it can be a great way to raise awareness about your farm, increase sales and have fun.
Discover more about this farm at collectivejoyfarm.com
Registration Now Open For Saskatchewan Open Farm Days