Agritourism
Over the last couple of weeks, I have attended different conferences and forums on horticulture, and soil and water conservation as it relates to farming. It’s been a crash course on learning how to take care of our land and grow things. In developing my vision for the business I’ve always had a clear idea on ‘why’ I was doing it, now I have an even better understanding of ‘what’ I’m doing. Will I still make a ton of mistakes, hell yah but that, I’ve been reminded time and again by my Palisade community, is also part of the farming process. For this blog post, I thought I’d share a bit of what I’ve learned as it relates to ‘what’ I’m doing!
While registering for the Western Colorado Soil Health, Food and Farm Forum, I learned I’m not starting a farm, but rather a Market Garden! I’d never heard of this term before and so I had to google its meaning. Turns out a market garden is typically small in scale and includes growing fruit, vegetables, herbs, and flowers. It can also include animals, such as chickens! What sets the Market Garden apart from your traditional farm is its size. We will be growing our produce on a little over half an acre, more like ¾ of an acre if you include our Pecan trees in the mix. So rather than Palisade Posh Farms, we are, Posh Gardens! And, if I’m being perfectly honest, Posh Gardens has a much better ring to it.
So, what I’m creating is a garden, a big one in comparison to say the urban gardens I’ve grown in the past. A Market Garden also sells its produce, verses just growing it for yourself. Originally Andy and I thought we’d just grow our fruits and veggies for ourselves, but once we purchased the property, we realized we would be growing way more produce than either of us could eat, hence the creation of our Market Garden.
At this same forum, I learned another new term called ‘Agritourism’. In reflection, Palisade Posh is not one but three businesses in one, this includes, Posh Cottage, currently under construction, Posh Gardens, also under construction and the future Palisade Posh Artist Retreat. Its mission is to create a unique destination through experiential amenities, this includes offering a farm to table experience for our guests where they can walk across to the garden and pick their own fruits and vegetables. This it what agritourism is, it is tourism that has an emphasis or connection with agriculture! Palisade is huge in the agritourism industry. The wineries who offer tastings on their properties, or concerts, and picnics…that is agritourism; or orchards who include Airbnb’s on their property, this too is agritourism. This realization was eye opening to me. I always thought we were getting into the hospitality industry!
With this point in mind, another term or rather saying I learned was ‘green and clean’. This speaks to the idea that the destination also has to be visually pleasing, ie pretty! This totally validates my desire to make the property visually appealing! This means paying attention to how the property looks like a whole is important. Agritourism provides mental health benefits so farms or in our case Palisade Posh needs to speak to three key elements, nostalgia, topophilia and biophilia. Nostalgia creates a sense of connectivity to the past or memories, so by rebuilding our pole barn and turning it into a potting shed and using old windows and reclaimed wood from the property to rebuild it, I’m tapping into the concept of ‘nostalgia’.
Topophilia relates to ‘sense of place’. The place needs to be clean and visually appealing; first impressions can make or break a destination so the more visually inviting the location, the more memorable it will be and the more likely our guests will want to return. This aspect is going to take some time which I will work to my advantage in that I will invite our guests to come back and see how the garden and the land around it changes and evolves over time! Unless we win the lottery, landscaping the place over time is the only way I can financially pull it off!
Biophilia speaks to the sense of connectivity to all living things. So Posh Gardens, and my chickens (someday) and even the Peacocks I want to have on the property all relate directly to biophilia! This even includes our neighbors’ donkeys! Note to self, as I landscape the area around the guest cottage, don’t block the view of our neighbors’ donkeys as they too are an important part of the overall Palisade Posh experience, as is the rooster who lives down the way and crows every morning at sunrise!
Agritourism also includes CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture), which is something Andy and I aspire to do to sell our produce. This was a topic that was covered quite a bit at the forum. CSA programs are membership based. Through purchasing a share in the harvest in advance, each week or by-weekly, members receive fresh local produce. As part of this, they might be able to harvest their own produce, for example pick berries in the soft fruit patches or fruit from the orchard. Flowers and eggs can also be included in a CSA program. Without realizing it, my landscape design for Posh Garden, sets us up for the perfect CSA program! Because CSA connects people directly with the produce and creates an event type opportunity, it too speaks to the concept of agritourism. It is both educational in that members see how and where their food is grown as well as entertainment through the act of going to the garden to pick up their food, or to pick it themselves. As part of the landscape design, there will be areas throughout the garden for guests to sit and enjoy being in nature, taking in the views as well as delighting in the tastes the garden has to offer.
So, with all this new information and a newfound sense of self and ‘what’ Palisade Posh is, turns out, I’m not getting into the hospitality industry but rather I’m diving into agritourism. Which… assuming I can pull it off will not only create a healthier lifestyle for Andy and me, it also supports our local community and maybe even inspire others to become a part of agritourism!
