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Children & micro eco-farms
prosper together
Increase farm revenue while filling
a need for real-world nature-based
enrichment learning for kids
All content © 2010 by National Lilac Publishing, LLC
 
SEATTLE, WA by Barbara Adams www.BarbaraBerstAdams.com.
Small eco-farms find that by mending the gap between kids and nature, their own profits can rise substantially. Jane Eckert, an agricultural marketing expert is quoted here about farms that provide harvest festivals for families. From the title, The New Agritourism (New World Publishing, www.NWPub.net): "While the average pumpkin sale might be $4-$8 per customer, they will generally spend at least $20 per family just to have a fun day on the farm. Fall season revenues might start for farms at just a few thousand dollars but with a little bit of ingenuity, hard work and a good product mix, $100,000 is not a difficult goal for a farm to reach in October. After several years, many farms are approaching sales up to $500,000 and more. The concept," she continues, "is to start small with pumpkins and then start adding the products, food sales, school tours etc., and the revenue builds quickly."

Island Meadow Farm of Washington State found that working directly with the public school teachers generated many visitors to their pumpkin patch and apple pressings. HeartSong Farm in New Hampshire has cultivated a shared-interest following for herb and organic antique apple enthusiasts, and offer Nature and Spirit camps to their customers' children. Other sources for those interested in children's tours and workshops besides public schools include private schools, church groups, homeschool cooperatives and scout groups.

Farm activities should include something hands-on and offer something that can be taken home, whether that be a sample of your heirloom strawberries, or a craft item such as pressed flower bookmarks made from ingredients found on the farm. This should be balanced with tours and explanations of the cycles of life and the science of farming, Longer tours can include active times along with quieter times, such as farm-related story times. Other activities that enhance the farm visit include a variety of general nature-based activities such as flower fairy tea parties and earthworm ranching projects. Many more are found in books such as Nature Crafts (Creative Kids), Ecoart!: Earth-Friendly Art and Craft Experiences for 3-To 9-Year-Olds, and Good Earth Art: Environmental Art for Kids.

Whether your farm/children connection includes families or is more oriented to kids only, such as with school tours, children are often the main generators of alerting their parents and other adult customers to your farm products, and are some of the best farm word-of-mouth promoters one could ask for. There is also the satisfaction of educating future earth stewards, whether they are your own children or others who come to the farm.

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