Farm tour excites
This year's Butler County Farm Tour was an opportunity for people unfamiliar with farms to get a bit closer to agriculture, learning about everything from therapeutic horse riding to bee-keeping and pressing apple cider.
The farm tour, which ran from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, was a self-guided tour sponsored by the Butler County Tourism and Convention Bureau, featuring six stops: Asgard Acres Alpaca Farm on Nursery Road in Forward Township, Eisler Nurseries and PineHall on Dick Road in Connoquenessing Township, Harvest Valley Farms on Ida Lane in Middlesex Township, Lutherlyn Equestrian Center on Adventure Lane in Franklin Township, Metrick's Harvest View Farm and Market on Eagle Mill Road in Connoquenessing Township, and Pine Hill Farms on Upper Harmony Road in Connoquenessing Township.
A stop never before featured on the farm tour was the Lutherlyn Equestrian Center at Camp Lutherlyn, according to Carla Babcock, the program director of the equestrian center.
The stop on the tour was an opportunity to show off the recently opened Harry W. Bost Arena. The $200,000 indoor arena, which was completed in April, allows the equestrian center to host group activities year-round, rather than relying on a March-to-October schedule, Babcock said.
Because the Lutherlyn Equestrian Center runs entirely on donations and volunteers, the farm tour could make sure that more people knew about the resource in their own backyard, Babcock said, possibly drawing more volunteers and donors into the fold.
“(Most people) don't actually know that this is here,” she said. “We want to get more people coming ... to let people know about the opportunities.”
Babcock stressed the new therapeutic riding program, which began in the spring under the guidance of Katey Simons, an instructor certified by the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International.
Another goal of the equestrian stop on the farm tour was to educate people about what horse care entails, Babcock said. While many people know that owning a horse can be expensive, they might not know why or about the hard work involved.
For instance, a horse requires 25 gallons of water every day, which can be time-consuming for the owner, especially in the winter when it can freeze, Babcock said.
The average horse also needs to eat 20 pounds of hay, about a third of a bale, and up to six pounds of grain each day. All of that is on top of the typical grass-grazing a horse does.
“Horses should eat 23 hours a day,” Babcock said. “They're designed to non-stop eat rather than (to eat) meals.”
In the winter, horses stay warm through this continual eating, she said.
At Lutherlyn, all of the horses are donated, meaning they are typically elderly or injured horses, and Lutherlyn gives the animals the opportunity to age with grace.
Just as older people need to stay active and keep their minds sharp, older horses should too, Babcock said. That makes these elderly horses perfect for group activities and for teaching first-time riders, which makes up a lot of Lutherlyn's programming.“The thing that's so nice about elderly horses is they're good teaching horses,” Babcock said.For Nichole Echler of Renfrew, the farm tour, particularly the stop at Lutherlyn Equestrian Center, was an incredible opportunity — one her family “definitely could not” have had a year ago, when they lived in Las Vegas.“We wouldn't have been able to do (something like this) in Vegas,” Echler said.The farm tour offered a chance for her children — 5-year-old Charlotte and 2-year-old Sawyer — to see what farm life and animals are like, much to the excitement of Sawyer.“(He) absolutely adores horses,” Echler said, having joked that the family might never be allowed to leave the equestrian center on Saturday morning.And this opportunity to connect with farm life is what Ken Metrick, owner of Metrick's Harvest View Farm and Market, enjoys about the farm tour.“I think people just like to come out and be on the farm,” he said. “Now, we're getting separated from the farm. Sixty years ago, everybody had an uncle or family member with a farm. Even if they only went every Sunday, they still had that connection (to farms), and now we're getting away from that.”Metrick's stop on the tour included a 2-acre corn maze, wagon rides, information from local beekeeper Terry Shanor and a 132-year-old apple cider press on display.Shanor, who has been keeping bees for more than 30 years, had a display hive of bees and a queen, answering questions and talking about the importance of honeybees.The display was a real hit, especially with children, and, in fact, most of them were not scared, Shanor said.One positive thing Shanor noticed was that people seem to understand just how important bees are to humans and our food supply.“They seem to know already,” he said. “If we didn't have honeybees, you'd be eating rice all the time. You'd have no variety.”On the other side of the market, Ellen Leslie, who helps out on the farm and considers herself an apple press historian, shared information about the Metrick's apple cider press from 1884.Leslie said the press has always remained within five miles of Mount Chestnut.The press is still used today by Metrick, even allowing other farmers to bring their own apples to press Saturday morning, Leslie said. Each farmer is asked to bring at least eight bushels to make the press worth the work.The press then applies between six and eight tons of pressure, with eight bushels typically yielding between 20 and 24 gallons of cider, according to Leslie. The press, despite its age, can make up to 500 gallons of cider in an hour.“It's impressive to watch it work,” she said. “It's just amazing. It's really fun, but it's very loud.”
