You may have visited a farmers’ market, romped around a pumpkin patch or picked apples at Eckert’s, but how much do you really know about farm life? Numerous growers and producers are just itching to teach city slickers a thing or two about how food makes it from the farm to your fork. If you’ve already adopted “locavore” into your vocabulary, here’s the low-down on how “agritourism” can become this year’s buzzword.
For a 100-percent-hands-on adventure, your best bet is to head to Sycamore Valley Farm Bed and Breakfast in Brunswick, in north central Missouri. Matt and Tina Reichert and their kids can put you to work raising row crops, tending the garden, or helping with the cow and calf grazing operation. You know you want a combine ride, and when planting’s done, drop your overalls, don an apron and git to the kitchen, where Tina Reichert puts up jam, salsa and other canned goods. After you’ve put in a hard day’s work, you’ll fall right to sleep and dream of her homemade bread, asparagus quiche and other breakfast delights you’ll be served come sunup.
If you’re more at home on the range, then saddle up at Bucks and Spurs Guest Ranch in Ava, Mo., to help C and Sonny Huff drive cattle herds to fresh pasture. This Western-style vacation also includes trail riding on 1,000 acres of mountainous wilderness near Mark Twain National Forest, horse-drawn wagon rides and water activities in Big Beaver River. And don’t worry about the chow; Sonny Huff dishes out hearty trail ride breakfasts, chuckwagon dinners and mighty fine steak nights for all her cowboys and buckaroos.
While these unique destinations are open year-round, a few agri-happenings last just a few days but promise lifetime memories. When grapes are ready to harvest, Ed Daugherty, owner of St. Francois Winery in Park Hills, Mo., gladly welcomes extra hands at his annual weekend Harvest Party (usually held around Labor Day – although the grapes decide harvest day, not Daugherty). Wine-making enthusiasts get to pick and stomp while Daugherty cooks up the three square meals a day and even hosts a Saturday night shindig.
Then, just when your tired hands have turned a bruised purple, it will be time to truck down to Lorberg Farms near Cape Girardeau and harvest the milo. John and Ellen Lorberg invite you to join their friends from Gordonville, Mo., stripping, pressing and cooking sorghum cane down into molasses in late September and early October. (If you ask, John Lorberg will give you a bonus wheat-grinding demonstration and you’ll drive home with a sample of stoneground whole-wheat flour.)
Insurance and liability factors prohibit most agribusinesses from permitting the public to participate in the production process. Lucky for us, these businesses schedule tours and open houses to give us a peek (“interpretative experiences” in agritourism parlance) at how they operate. Curious city dwellers can visit Baetje Farms in Bloomsdale to see how one of Missouri’s goat cheese producers makes its artisan farmstead cheeses, or feed calves and milk cows by hand with Leroy Shatto and the staff at Shatto Milk Co. Of course, the best part is tasting creamy-rich root-beer milk, banana milk and other flavored milk beverages bottled at the Osborn, Mo., facility.
Because it’s pretty darned hard for farmers to leave during kidding season or let the crop go to seed so they can head to The Big City to stoke the tourist fire, a few organizations and state agencies are dedicated to promoting agritourism throughout the state. “Tourism is a major industry, and we would like to see some of the tourist dollars be spent in rural areas,” said Elizabeth Barham, leader of the Missouri Regional Cuisines Project, which aims to market Missouri wine and food products using distinct labels of origin based on ecological regions of the state. In 2003, Barham helped to foster cooperation among producers, marketers and community entities in a pilot region in eastern Missouri known as the Mississippi River Hills. The Mississippi River Hills Association works to promote, protect, enhance and market the unique food offerings and venues in the area. Barham is currently working to organize growers and producers in two other areas of the state.
AgriMissouri, a program within the Missouri Department of Agriculture, also works to promote its members whose products are grown, raised or processed in the state. “We list them on the AgriMissouri Web site and in our buyer’s guide,” explained AgriMissouri member services coordinator Sarah Gehring. “This gives them a presence on the Internet, especially if they do not have their own Web site.” According to Gehring, agritourism has become a focus of the state’s tourism industry. “We’re seeing an increased interest both on the producer side and the consumer side,” she noted. “The consumer demand is there, especially from those in the metro area who want a rural experience. The AgriMissouri members are filling that void.”
One of those AgriMissouri members, Rayville Baking Co., recently began offering monthly classes in the spring featuring traditional farmhouse cuisine. Chef Josh Anthony uses local ingredients and heirloom and organic food from Van Till Farms in Rayville to teach hands-on rustic cooking.
“Cultural tourism products are attracting travelers,” stated Lori Simms, communications manager for the Missouri Division of Tourism. “Our agricultural background is very much a part of our heritage. A lot of people want to find out what they don’t know.”
Educating people about food is precisely the aim of another venue set to join the growing list of agri-destinations. Mark your calendar to visit Hermann in late 2009. That’s when the Hermann Creamery at Hermann Farm and Museum, a one-of-a-kind model working farm and living history museum, will open to the public. Developed by the nationally renowned cheese-making expert Neville McNaughton, the creamery will offer classes in making artisan continental European table cheeses. “No one has done artisan cheese in the state as far as I am aware,” commented Jim Dierberg, whose Dierberg Educational Foundation will own and operate the farm. Cream separators, cream cans, skimmers and milking equipment will tell the story of milk collection and the preparation of milk for cheese making, and guests will be able to view the aging tunnels and the products during the aging process.
Probably the most original farm-based educational attraction is R Pizza Farm, an organic pizza demonstration farm located across the river in Dow, Ill. Half an acre of the 50-acre farm is in the shape of a pizza and sectioned into eight wedges. Each wedge represents different pizza ingredients: tomatoes, peppers, herbs, grains, dairy goats, pigs, beef cows and chickens, the latter necessary to create BBQ pizza, a specialty at the R Pizza Farm pizzeria. “Our society is becoming devoid of knowing where food comes from,” commented owner Walter Gregory. “The farm has a unique way of attracting people because people never thought of pizza being ‘alive.’”
Common among all of these agritourist ventures is the strong belief of the owners in preserving our agricultural heritage and an oftentimes simpler, slower pace of life. Eddie LaBoube, owner of the LaBoube Farms Guesthouse near Hermann, explained why families yearn to stay at the centennial homestead on his working cattle farm. “The guesthouse preserves and captures a flash memory of the old farm way of life,” said LaBoube, who recently opened another idyllic country guesthouse a few miles down the road called The Stone Giraffe. Pausing briefly to admire a day-old calf, he said, “This is the good life.”
Be sure to call ahead before trekking on these agri-terrific adventures
Baetje Farms plans to hold an open house later this year at its artisan farmstead goat cheese facility in Bloomsdale, Mo. Pet the goats and see how the facility manufactures its handcrafted Coeur de la Crème, Coeur du Clos and Fleur de la Vallée cheeses. 573.483.9021
Rockinʼ H Ranch in Norwood, Mo., is getting set for its eighth annual Cowboy Gathering. Join in the Memorial Day weekend cattle drive at the 1,000-acre ranch. If you don’t have your own horse, you can still attend the Chuckwagon Dinner Theater on May 24 during the five-day cowboy extravaganza. 417.741.6090 www.rockinh.net
Shatto Milk Co. in Osborn, Mo., will hold a family day on June 21. Take a tour of the dairy and bottling facilities, pet the cows, feed the calves and sample the milk products. 816.930.3862 www.shattomilk.com
Rayville Baking Co. offers monthly farmhouse cooking classes. Next sessions are slated for May 17 and June 12. 816.776.2720
www.rayvillebaking.com
Immerse yourself in cowboy life at Bucks and Spurs Guest Ranch located in Ava, Mo., about an hour north of Branson. Summer three- and five-night packages are available. 417.683.2381 www.bucksandspurs.com
R Pizza Farm located just west of Alton in Dow may very well be the only organic pizza farm in the world. Each “slice” of the ½-acre, pizza-shaped farm represents a different pizza ingredient. After the tour, indulge in a slice of hot pizza at the farm’s pizzeria. 618.466.5950
LaBoube Farms Guesthouse near Hermann offers overnight guests a chance to take in the ambiance of a working cattle farm. Stay in February or March and your little ones can see the newborn calves. 573.486.5100 www.laboubefarms.com
Learn about wine making at St. Francois Winery in Park Hills, Mo. The harvest and grape stomp occur during the annual harvest party held in late August or early September. 573.431.4294 www.stfrancoiswinery.com
Set to open late next year is the Hermann Farm & Museum, consisting of five distinct learning areas, all contributing to the historic representation of an early German settlement. These areas include: a model vineyard and winery; livestock farm; artisan demonstration sites; including a creamery and artisan cheese-making facility, a German-style performance and event facility; known as the Hofgarten; stables; wagon-building shop and a children’s garden. 573.486.3276
www.hermannfarm.org
At Walk-About Acres in Columbia, Mo., you’ll learn all about beekeeping as you stand mesmerized by the apiary. Kids also enjoy interacting with many farm animals on this small, family-owned farm. 573.474.8837 www.walk-aboutacres.net
Sycamore Valley Farm Bed and Breakfast lets you pitch in on a working farm in Brunswick, Mo. You can get as dirty as you like or stay whistle clean. 660.548.3283
www.sycamorevalleyfarm.com
Persimmon Hill Farm in Lampe, near the Missouri-Arkansas border, offers tours of its self-sustaining berry farm and on-farm bakery. Then taste owner Martha Bohner’s signature blueberry muffin, the Thunder Muffin, which Straub’s Markets recently began carrying. 417.779.5443 www.persimmonhill.com
Lorenae Dairy in Galena, Mo., offers tours of its cheese-making operation. The dairy produces full-cream, all-Jersey and Cheddar cheese curds. 417.357.2873
Opening spring 2009 is the Jefferson Farm and Gardens, a 67-acre demonstration farm located within the 1,500-acre University of Missouri South Farm in Columbia. This educational farm will focus on contemporary agricultural approaches and feature a fruit orchard, demonstration vineyard, vegetable garden, field crop demonstrations and children’s barn. 573.449.3518 www.jeffersonfarm.org
A herd of more than 1,000 bison roam free on the 4,000-acre Sayersbrook Bison Ranch and Lodge in Potosi. A tour of the ranch includes riding on a covered wagon to feed a bison herd. 573.438.4449 www.sayersbrook.com
Visit Lorberg Farms in late September or early October to participate in molasses-making. This working farm in Gordonville, Mo., near Cape Girardeau, also offers wheat-grinding demonstrations on stone equipment. 573.243.2858
Crunch-Top Cobbler
Courtesy of Persimmon Hill Farm’s Martha Bohner
6 servings
3 cups blueberries or blackberries, fresh or frozen
2 tsp. lemon juice
½ to 1 cup sugar (optional)
1 cup rolled oats, uncooked
¾ cup flour
¾ cup brown sugar
½ cup margarine, melted
•Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
•Toss the berries with lemon juice and spread them in the bottom of a greased two-quart cooking dish. If additional sweetness is desired, add up to one cup of sugar to the berries and stir.
•Mix together the remaining ingredients, and sprinkle over the berries. Bake for about 35 to 55 minutes or until the berries are hot and bubbling and the topping is lightly browned. • Serve warm. This is excellent with ice cream.
Gnocchi With San Marzano Tomato Sauce and Sweet Italian Sausage
Courtesy of Rayville Baking Co.’s Josh Anthony
6 servings
For the gnocchi:
1½ lbs. russet potatoes
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 large egg
½ tsp. salt
•Place potatoes in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil at high heat then reduce to medium heat and cook until potatoes are fork tender, about 45 minutes. Remove potatoes from the pan and let cool slightly. Peel the potatoes then mash them or pass through a potato ricer.
•Mound the potatoes on the table and make a well in the center. Sprinkle all over with the flour and crack the egg in the center, add salt, and using a fork beat the egg into the flour and potato. Once the egg is mixed in begin kneading the dough together, about 4 minutes. Dough will be dry to the touch.
•Divide the dough into thirds and roll each section into a ¾-inch diameter rope, cut each rope into 1-inch pieces.
•Bring 1 gallon of water in a stockpot or large saucepan to a boil with about 4 tablespoons of salt. Drop the gnocchi into the boiling water and cook until they float to the top.
•Toss the gnocchi directly with the hot pasta sauce. (If not using the gnocchi immediately, drop them into ice water to stop cooking. Strain, toss with ¼ cup olive oil and store covered in the refrigerator for up to 48 hours.)
For the San Marzano tomato sauce:
1/8 cup olive oil
½ cup sweet yellow onion, cut into ¼-inch dice
2 cloves garlic, sliced
½ Tbsp. fresh thyme
¼ cup carrot, finely grated
1 28-oz. can San Marzano tomatoes (or any good quality Italian plum tomato), crushed by hand
Salt and pepper to taste
•In a medium saucepan, heat the olive oil until it just starts to lightly smoke, then add the onion and garlic. Cook until onions and garlic turn golden brown. Add the thyme and carrot, cook for 2 minutes, then add the hand-crushed tomatoes. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer and reduce until slightly thickened, about 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
For the sweet Italian sausage:
6 sweet Italian sausages, lightly tossed in a little olive oil
•Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place sausages in preheated oven and cook for 20 minutes.
•Cut each sausage at an angle into ½-inch slices
For the assembly:
•To plate for family style, toss gnocchi in tomato sauce and place on large serving platter. Place sliced sausages around the edge of the platter.
Asparagus Quiche
Courtesy of Sycamore Valley Farm Bed and Breakfast’s Tina Reichert
6 to 8 Servings
1 lb. fresh asparagus
1 tsp. salt
1 10-inch unbaked pastry shell
1 egg white, lightly beaten
1 bacon strip, cooked and crumbled; reserve the drippings
2 Tbsp. finely chopped onion
2 cups shredded Swiss cheese
5 eggs
1½ cups light cream
¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
¼ tsp. salt
Pinch pepper
Cherry tomatoes, halved
•Cut 8 asparagus spears 4-inches long for garnish. Cut the remaining asparagus into ½-inch pieces, using only tender parts of the stalks.
•Bring 1 quart of water to boil in a large saucepan. Add salt and all of the asparagus. Return to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Drain and rinse asparagus to cool.
•Brush the bottom of the pastry shell with egg white.
•Sauté onion in bacon drippings until tender.
•In a bowl, combine cut asparagus, Swiss cheese, crumbled bacon, and onion; mix gently. Place in the bottom of the pastry shell.
•In another bowl, beat eggs, cream, nutmeg, salt and pepper until smooth. Pour into shell. Bake, uncovered, at 400 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean.
•Arrange the asparagus spears, spoke fashion with tops facing out, on top of quiche; place cherry tomato halves between spokes and one in the center.
Beef Rouladen à la Rockin’ H
Courtesy of Rockin’ H Ranch’s Dawnnell Holmes
8 servings
This recipe is a favorite of the Cowboy Gathering at the Rockin’ H Ranch.
3 lbs. grass-fed, all-natural top round steak, trimmed of fat and cut into 8 equal parts
Dijon mustard
4 slices uncooked bacon, cut in half
6 Roma tomatoes, chopped
3 to 4 large dill pickles, chopped
2 medium onions, chopped
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Colored toothpicks
4 Tbsp. butter
1 Tbsp. canola oil
3 cups unsalted beef stock
1 cup dry red wine
3 cloves garlic, minced
•Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
•Pound each steak piece about 1/4-inch thick to tenderize.
•For each steak: Spread about 1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard over the steak. Lay a half piece of bacon over the mustard. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon each of chopped tomato and dill pickle over each steak, followed by 2 teaspoons of onion. Reserve remaining tomato, dill pickle and onion. Sprinkle each steak with sea salt and pepper. Roll up each steak securely and fasten with colored toothpicks.
•In a deep cast-iron skillet or Dutch oven, heat the butter and oil together over medium-high heat. Brown the beef rolls quickly, turning carefully to brown all sides.
•Pour the beef stock and wine over the rolled steaks. Scatter the garlic and remaining tomato, dill pickle and onion over the steaks. Cover the pan, place in the oven and bake for 1½ hours, or until the meat is very tender.
•Spoon the sauce over each roll to ensure moistness. Serve hot.