For most of the past 2,000 centuries, humans were hunter-gatherers who found or captured the food they needed to survive, just like other animals. About 10,000 years ago we invented agriculture and discovered how to make the earth produce the food we need when and where we needed it. Agriculture changed everything by enabling dramatic increases in our population and by laying the foundations upon which civilizations were erected. It also kept most of us very busy. For 98 of the past 100 centuries, almost everyone on the planet was at least a part-time farmer.
The industrial revolution and the mechanization it enabled changed the face of farming by greatly increasing the amount of food one person could produce. People put down their hoes and scythes and moved out of the countryside to find other occupations. They also returned to hunting and gathering, but this time in markets rather than fields and forests. Today, fewer than 2 percent of the US population is producing food on farms. The rest of us find our daily bread at the store.
Food is our most fundamental need. Because government policies affecting the quality, quantity, availability and cost of food are influenced by the will of the electorate, all Americans should know more than a little about how it is produced. Fortunately, an excellent education is available this Saturday for just $20 per curious carload plus the time it takes to drive around our beautiful countryside visiting Centre County farms.
The Centre County Farmland Trust’s signature event, the Centre County Farm Tour, is your best chance to find out about farming in Happy Valley. The tour this year features 11 farms offering experiences for adults and kids that aren’t otherwise available. Where else can you pet a cow; visit a cheese plant; hobnob with an Amish farmer; see the home of Grange Fair founder, Leonard Rhone; walk through an arboretum & sculpture garden; marvel at antique and contemporary farm equipment; honor the work of honey bees within their hives; pick a pumpkin in a pumpkin patch; feed free-roaming chickens; walk through greenhouses brimming with vegetables; learn about sustainable building practices; admire grazing lambs; and toast our region’s agricultural abundance with a glass of wine?
There’s nothing else like it and it’s available just one day a year. This year, that day is Saturday, Oct. 6, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m..
Here’s how it works. Visit a participating featured farm, purchase a $20 pass for a carload of family and friends (or register in advance online for $15) and set out on the tour. Visit as many farms as you’re able; stay as long as you like. Not only can you learn, savor, and delight as you tour, you can also take home some of the abundance. Most farms will have a variety of offerings for purchase: fresh produce, meats, cheeses, wines, prepared foods, eggs, honey, flowers and more.
For more information, visit centrecountyfarmtour.com where you can buy a pass and find a map showing farm locations and a tour guide describing each of the 11 featured farms.
Participating farms include:
Goot Essa
Mount Nittany Vineyard & Winery
Spring Bank Acres
Student Farm at Penn State
RE Farm Cafe
Wasson Farm
Way Fruit Farm
Triangle Organics
Bear Meadows Farm
Rhoneymeade
Tait Farm
