Visit beef, dairy, alpaca farms, milling company on Butler farm tour

If getting lost in a corn maze, harvesting a pumpkin, sipping seasonal beer or sitting down to a hearty country meal seems like the perfect way to welcome fall, you'll find a bounty of choices at this weekend's Butler County Farm Tour.

The countywide event will feature dozens of farms, farm-to-fork restaurants and related businesses, all of which have special activities planned. The self-guided tour will include the annual Mars Applefest, the Portersville Steam Show, breweries, beekeepers, a chocolatier, and Angus beef, turkey, dairy, vegetable and alpaca farms.

“We're proud of agriculture. Next to tourism, it's our biggest industry, and we want to share it with the public,” says Jack Cohen, president of the Butler County Tourism and Convention Bureau, which is orchestrating the event.

Small-scale tours have been held in Butler in the past, but this year the bureau is pulling out all stops, Cohen says. “It's a farm tour on steroids. There's all kinds of fun stuff planned, and people will get to see where their food comes from.”

Harvest Valley Farms, a grower of 65 different vegetable crops, is one of the county's most established agricultural producers and familiar to folks who frequent farmers markets around Pittsburgh. Owner Art King says he and his family can't wait to welcome visitors to their 165-acre property in Valencia.

“You'll be greeted by Buster the Goat. He's also our Facebook mascot and very friendly,” King says. “We'll have other goats in pasture, plus ponies, sheep, donkeys, baby pigs and chicks less than a week old.”

King has constructed a corn maze “guaranteed to get people lost,” he says, as well as a straw tunnel for children, and a corn pit for the youngest kids. There will be hayrides, six varieties of pumpkins for picking, face-painting, live music and homemade baked goods and apple cider for sale.

Fees range from 50 cents for the straw tunnel to $2 for a hayride and $3 for a family of five to explore the corn maze. “We're definitely family-oriented,” King says. “Our motto is ‘Family Fun on a Real Farm.' ”

This weekend's tour will include Whispering Pines Farm in Cabot, described as a gentleman's farm by owners Kerry McCann and her husband, Don Sprouse.

“I'm a little nervous, because we're expecting 10,000 people on the (countywide) tour,” McCann says. There will be 20 vendors at the farm and 10 demonstrations.

“Our farm is magical. As soon as you come down our tree-lined lane, you begin to unwind,” McCann says. “It's like entering another world. Life is so busy — it's so fast — we think it's important, especially for children, to spend time in nature.”

Since moving from Oakmont to Cabot three years ago, McCann has developed Whispering Pines into a destination for folks wanting a rural experience. She offers glamping — glamorous camping — which includes overnight stays in a canvas-sided, wood-floor tent with queen-size bed and continental breakfast.

The growing trend in agri-tourism has been a boon not just to enterprises like McCann's, but for many of Butler County's 1,100 agricultural producers.

“People want to get back to basics and what formed America centuries ago,” says Renee Ritenour, who, with husband Rick, owns Alpaca Palace in Centre Township. “They love seeing the animals, and they're intrigued by what goes into running a self-sustaining farm. We grow our own hay and vegetables for feed, and we do routine veterinary care.”

The couple breeds and shows alpacas and sells their fleece to an international market. Alpaca is considered a luxury fiber because it is light and warm. The Ritenours started in 2004 with three alpacas for pasture management in Rick's lawn-care business, and now have a herd of 125, including a champion stud named Houdini. They raise hens for laying and beef cattle.

This weekend, tourgoers will get to visit with the animals up-close, Renee Ritenour says. “Alpacas are gentle souls. They're very docile. We'll have our babies — some in halters — walking around. Houdini — he's the king of the castle — of course, people will see him.”

No farm tour would be complete without a visit to a dairy like Fischer's Windy Ridge Farm in Fombell, where milk from Jersey cows is bottled and sold onsite.

“Jersey cows produce high-protein, high-butterfat milk that's richer tasting than other milk,” says Chris Fischer, who operates the farm with her daughter Lindsay, a fifth-generation farmer.

“We're self-sustaining,” Fischer says. “We raise all the feed for our cattle, and milk twice a day. We're staying open until 7:30 Saturday, so people will see the evening milking.”

Tourgoers can take photos with the cows, pet the calves, and try their hand at milking a fiberglass replica named Chloe. The farm store will feature specialty items like pumpkin-flavored milk and ricotta cheese, which are only occasionally available, as well as whole milk, chocolate milk and a nonhomogenized product in which the cream rises to the top of the bottle, Fischer says. “Our milk is so fresh, it still has moo to it.”

There's no charge for the tour, which is intended to educate the public, she says. “People often stop by wanting to see the cows, but it's not usually possible, because we're so busy. So we're excited about the tour. We like having visitors and we want them to see how milk is produced.”

Windy Ridge and a handful of other participants, including Zanella Milling in West Sunbury, will be on the tour only Saturday.

“Saturdays are a regular business day for us, so folks will see us making animal feed and milling buckwheat flower for human consumption,” says Matthew Zanella, of his family's 117-year-old mill. “We're not a tourist trap. We're a working mill, but we like showing people what we do.

“If you come here, don't be afraid to get dirty,” he says. “The dust will be flying.”

Zanella Milling produces and packages pure buckwheat flour, buckwheat pancake mix and other products. Zanella will be frying pancakes for folks to sample. “Our products aren't available everywhere, but we're competitive in our pricing,” he says. “And it's just better to buy local.”

Deborah Weisberg is a contributing writer for Trib Total Media.