Farmer Frances visits Forsythe, May 2009 edition

These pictures aren’t mine, so don’t steal them.

I’ve read that a farmer is just corn’s way of propogating itself, which is a fun inversion of the way we usually think about corn. In which case, what is the relationship between a farmer and a goat?

Or between the goat and Frances, as the case may be.

Here we are, at a local pick-your-own/community farm, Forsythe Family Farms in Markham. They have animals for feeding and petting (including goats, sheep, rabbits) and others just for looking at (chickens, turkeys, cows, pigs), a big play area, wagon rides and an “enchanted forest” which is much more fun when it isn’t 15C and windy. They also have a little market that sells Ontario produce as well as meat, eggs and honey from their own farm, and whatever produce they have in season. It’s great. Frances has fun playing and pretending to be a farmer, and I get to teach her that food isn’t something that comes in a plastic bag from the supermarket. The beef, eggs and honey are good, too.

I’ve often wondered about the economics of these pick-your-own/fun farms and a farmer’s motivations for switching over from something purely agricultural. Does it make more money? How much? Does it alter the local farming community at all? How difficult is it to organize a pick-your-own? What are their thoughts on organic and eating local?

It’s funny to think that what used to be our near-universal lifestyle is now an exotic weekend destination for city-folk disassociated from rural living.

If I had a chance to interview the farmers–we know them pretty well by now, having visited so often since Frances was very small–would you be interested in reading it?