Farm Tours & Potlucks – 5 mins

Welcome to Farm Tours and Potlucks!

This is where the magic happens.

Farm Tours and potlucks are an integral part of the apprenticeship program weaving together:

• Education – learning about different farm operations in the program, ecology, soil, food systems, and reciprocity (sharing food and sharing knowledge).
• Community building   – knowledge sharing, networking,  being on the land, building relationships within the cohort, sharing experiences, and eating meals together.
• Mental wellness – farm tours help with the isolation that apprentices can experience at their host farms.
• Having Fun! 

Photo credit: Mich Lam

We look forward to hosting a farm with you! Here is an overview of what is needed to host a  farm tour

1. Insurance – to host farm tours you will need general liability insurance. Please refer to the insurance section of the e-learning for more details.
2. Scheduling – Coordinate with your provincial coordinator the details about dates and times. We often try and schedule a couple farms to tour on the same weekend.  Coordinators will be looking to have a draft schedule in April.
3. Is the event only for apprentices or open to the public?  Think about if you would like event promoted to the community.
4. Potluck – Work with your provincial coordinator to map out details of a potluck meal. Mentors are not expected to cook for the group. Sometimes host farms donate staples like meat and apprentices will bring sides.  This is flexible and can be done many ways. Let us know what works for you and we can plan something.
5. Accommodations – Sometimes farm tours are a weekend over night. Are there any campsites in your area that you can recommend? Please chat with your coordinator if you are offering to host apprentices camping on farm.
6. Biosecurity – Please communicate with you coordinator your requirements for biosecurity expectations. We can work with the cohort to get them educated and prepared. It is important to us to protect farms from the spread of virus and diseases.
7. Facilitating the event – Think about what you want to share about your farm and how to involve your apprentice in the tour. YA staff will be there to help as needed and can lead an introduction circle.
8.  Have fun and eat tasty food!

If hosting a farm tour doesn’t work for a season with your operations, no worries! Let our coordinators know. If at any time plans change or things need to be cancelled again keep us in the know of what is happening.