Agritourism not the unknown it once was

By Luke Edwards

There was a time when Caroline Jager could take no more than a few steps into the barn on her family property in Port Dover.

But she had a vision, and with plenty of blood, sweat and tears, that vision has become a reality.

Jager, who runs Homegrown Hideaway in neighbouring Norfolk County, spoke at an event held last month by the Haldimand Federation of Agriculture, with the help of Haldimand County. The day featured two sessions, a morning talk on biosecurity, and a series of afternoon discussions about on-farm diversified uses.

For Jager, along with Jay and Linda Howell, of Brantview Apples and Cider in Brant County, their forays into agritourism were not for the faint of heart. But with the right plan and dedication, agritourism efforts can provide a solid revenue source, and plenty of fun too.

“You’re not working with your land anymore, you’re working with people,” Jager said.

And people, at times, can be complicated.

Homegrown Hideaway offers glamping opportunities for people who want to get out of town and have a little taste of the quiet country life. The property went through a few iterations, from a former farm to a rewilded plot when Jager’s parents bought the property, to today’s hideaway business.

“It’s the same property, but it’s gone through quite the transformation,” Jager said.

The transformation began as she was starting her family and working elsewhere. It left her little time to spend with her children. So Jager began talking about starting an agritourism business with her husband. The old barn had promise, but was filled to the rafters with so much stuff she could hardly move around inside.

They began clearing out, cleaning and fixing things up, and installing glamping tent sites in multiple natural alcoves throughout the property. This was around 2019, a year before the world got turned upside down with the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It turned out to be a blessing,” Jager said. Glamping became an appealing option for people who had little else they could do and who realized how much they wanted to be outdoors.

That didn’t mean there weren’t challenges. Jager said many of their visitors don’t know the first thing about rural life, and she’s always answering questions most locals would consider common sense.

She’s come to expect the unexpected and learned to be flexible and ready to adapt on the fly. Normally a quiet and introverted type, she recalled one evening when they planned an outdoor dinner and jazz night in the renovated barn. Mother Nature reared her ugly head and the rain meant plans needed to change on the fly. Jager found herself having to get the attention of the large crowd who’d all arrived in their nice clothes for a fancy night out.

Fortunately, everything worked out, and Jager became slightly more comfortable as a public speaker.

For her, it’s all worth it for that one moment, when visitors truly settle in. When they arrive, they’re often a little anxious and tense, many have just braved a busy 400 series highway or two to get there. Eventually, though, they relax.

“It’s that moment when their shoulders drop,” she said. The power of rural life and nature can ease the tension.

In Brant County, the Howells’ entry into agritourism came when the sector wasn’t nearly as well developed as it is today.

“You have to have a passion for it,” said Jay, a seventh-generation apple farmer on the family property.

They started back in the late 1980s when they began selling apples at markets, realizing they could make more money that way. That would lead to a burgeoning u-pick business.

Then, as they were getting ready to slow down and thinking about retirement, the couple’s three children decided they had great plans for the farm.

That led to each of them creating a new arm of the farm. A daughter decided she didn’t want to become a teacher and instead wanted to make “a ton of booze on the family farm” in the form of cider. Jay said he was quite alright with that idea.

Another wanted to create an event space.

So now, there’s Howell Road Cider Co., an events pavilion, bakery and u-pick operation to keep the entire family busy.

The expansion required permissions and approvals from government, which at the time Linda said was especially challenging, since local government officials didn’t have much experience with what Brantview was trying to do. However, Linda said going through official channels was important.

“It’s a lot of work, but if you’re going to do it, do it the right way,” she said, adding municipalities are now more aware of agritourism.

Neil Stoop, supervisor of planning and development for Haldimand County, said the county is open to working with farms to develop their plans. There are some criteria, but also flexibility. One of the main things is making sure your project won’t impact neighbours.

On top of that, there is some criteria about how big the on-farm diversified use can be. A common measure, which Haldimand follows, is that the use can’t exceed two per cent of the property, up to an acre. That might seem like a lot, but when considering septic needs, as well as laneways and parking, it can quickly add up.

Even if plans take a property owner beyond the two-per-cent threshold, they can still receive approval by applying for relief from county bylaws to Haldimand council.