Designed to engage people with local farmers and provide answers to questions regarding the foods they eat, the farm crawl has become a yearly event in many rural communities. Among them is the Franklin County “Fresh on the Farm” Farm Crawl, one of several farm crawl events sponsored by Healthy Harvest of Northern Iowa, where participants are encouraged to spend a Sunday afternoon visiting local farms that have opened their doors to the public.
“It’s a really great chance for people to come out and try new foods and ask farmers questions about the foods they raise,” says Shannon Latham, whose Enchanted Acres in Sheffield, Iowa, is a popular event venue as well as a regular participant in the Franklin County farm crawl. “There are so many confusing headlines surrounding food labels these days. What do terms like ‘cage-free’ and ‘free-range’ really mean?”
Franklin County’s fourth annual farm crawl is scheduled for Sept. 18 this year, with participants expected to include Enchanted Acres, Cathy’s Country Cook’n & Carlson Tree Farm and TownEnd Winery, according to Latham. Past events have brought the chance to go on hayrides, pick pumpkins and taste local wines, smoked meats, jams and honeys, produce and other products.
Enchanted Acres was opened by Latham four years ago as a place for guests to “escape reality for a few hours, do some creative brainstorming or simply enjoy spending time together in the great outdoors.”
Enchanted Acres, where the grounds include pumpkin and squash patches and a herd of goats, offers several areas for events, among them the new Belle Tower, a 960-square-foot room with a fireplace located on the second floor of the barn. Other event spaces include The Market, conducive for small gatherings of up to 36 people, and Geppetto’s Workshop, an indoor/outdoor venue seating up to 60.
