Holmes County Farm Tour a smorgasbord of all there is to appreciate about the county

If you’ve ever wanted to get a glimpse of Amish Country at its best, then August 28 is your day. That’s when the fourth annual Holmes County Farm Tour takes place, traveling along country roads in Holmes County, showcasing a number of informative and unequaled stops at places that are instrumental in keeping the agricultural community humming.The 2010 Holmes County Farm Tour will feature a cross-section of Holmes County agriculture at its finest, with dairy farms, a cheese house, Amish woodworking shops, a sheep farm and even a trip to Behalt on the agenda. It will be a smorgasbord of a part of Holmes County that is vital to the success of the area’s economy.Now in its fourth year, the tour has presented Holmes County as a wonderful place to visit, and tourists from all over Ohio and even beyond its borders have joined in the trip down country lanes, along fields dotted with haystacks and grazing cattle, to see just what the allure is to Amish Country.But in addition, the tour has provided local people with a glimpse of many of the everyday events and businesses that are right under their noses, many of which a large percentage of Holmes Countians have never seen or even heard of before. From cheese shops to dairy farms and woodworking shops, agriculture affects the people of Holmes County in many ways, and the goal of the tour is to share that with those inside and outside of Holmes County.“Our biggest aim is to help people gain a better appreciation of where their food and many of the products they use at home may come from,” said Denny Snell, one of the event’s organizers. “The farm tour is a way for them to experience Holmes County and its many cultures in a very unique way. They can get out and talk to farmers and furniture makers, and maybe get to see the Amish way of life from a little more personal perspective. It should be a fantastic opportunity to see what drives our agriculture here in Holmes County in a lot of new ways.”The tour has bounced around the county over the past four years, from one quadrant to the next, and this year it will meander through the Northeast portion.While there have been things to do at the Holmes County Fairgrounds in the past, this year the only thing located there will be a map of the tour, as the fairgrounds serve only as a starting point for a trip which should be an informative and fun event. Maps will be available from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the fairgrounds and will be located at other stops along the way. Restrooms will be available at Stop #5 as well as the Amish & Mennonite Heritage Center and Heini’s Cheese.It all adds up to what should be a fantastic day of education and beauty as patrons travel the byways of Amish Country.“We invite people to go from stop to stop at their own pace, and take their time to enjoy the awesome countryside as they travel,” said Snell. “There’s no reason to hurry, and we chose some roads which provide breathtaking beauty along the way to each stop.”The trip is 42 miles altogether, and moves from Millersburg to Holmesville, Berlin, Mt. Hope, Bunker Hill and Winesburg.A new look on the tour this year is Holmes Ag, which is the first stop on the map. Holmes Ag will provide an in-depth look at how feed, seed and food are packaged and created for consumption and purchasing by farmers from large farms right down to the individual homeowner.“We’re looking forward to having a good time and are looking forward to letting people better understand how we connect with the agriculture here in Holmes and Wayne counties,” said president and co-owner Bob Nussbaum. “We’ll have someone at each station to explain what each station does, and to answer questions. The food processing mill will not be in operation, which will allow people the chance to get in there and really see how it works.”There will be plenty to do at this stop, including the food processing mill, a storage area, a 60-foot diameter air-dry corn bin, the bulk fertilizer building where they can blend fertilizers, a large dike area where they have pits of liquid pesticides and fertilizers, a pair of large pieces of equipment in the application rig and spreader and the main office and storeroom area.“It’s kind of fun to see how these different kinds of pet foods, bird seed, fertilizer and feed are prepared,” said Nussbaum. “We hope that we can add something exciting and unique to the show.”Moooo-ving on to Stop #2, patrons will witness the majesty of seeing a large beef cow operation in action at Duane Miller’s farm located near Benton. Large but fairly docile, these beef cattle are fun to witness close up, and Miller will be on hand to answer any and all questions.Next, tour drivers will go from the beef side of the cattle to the dairy side, when visiting Lloyd Miller’s grazing dairy. Filled with 100 head of Holstein-Jersey mix cattle, this seasonal milking operation is certified totally organic, meaning that the milk coming out of the farm is as wholesome as it gets. Visitors can watch the milking if they time it just right, and can check out the dairy cattle.Stop #4 will be at The Greenhouse, located north of Mt. Hope and owned by Melvin Weaver. Raising, producing and selling his own produce, Weaver encapsulates the entrepreneurship of the local Amish farming community. Part of the charm of the greenhouse is not just the beauty of the plants and vegetables, but the vibrant array of colors that help bring any home or business to life. Also at this stop will be Joseph and Marion Yoder, Tri-County Beekeepers, who will talk about a unique part of keeping the agriculture alive and thriving.Stop #5 will feature a horse farm owned by Robert Hershberger. Dublin Valley Farms showcases 10 Standing Stallions, and the farm breeds and trains horses, as well as doing horseshoe fittings for sale. If you’ve never seen anyone shoe a horse, this could be the perfect opportunity to learn about how it is done, as Hershberger has become quite adept at it.Stop #6 may provide the sweethearts of the tour in Dublin Valley Farm’s Poly-Pal Dorset Cross Sheep. This unique breed of sheep was designed in the early 1960s, and was created for a number of reasons. The sheep are prolific throughout their lifetime, can reproduce at one year of age, have the ability to lamb more frequently than once per year, have a rapid growth rate and present a desirable carcass quality. On top of that, they are extremely cute and cuddly.In addition to the sheep, owner Roman Miller also works on repairing buggy wheels, something that should be of great interest to tourists and locals alike.Also at the stop will be Roy Miller, owner of Mockingbird Meadows Alpaca Farm. Miller will have several of these docile, elegant creatures at the farm, where he will be on hand to answer questions on how alpaca differ from llamas, what they eat, what they are used for and more. Nancy Davenport, aka “The Yarn Doctor” will also be there, presenting her own unique wit as she teaches the art of spinning wool by hand and on a spinning wheel.Stop #7 will be at Winesburg Carriage, where owner John Miller will showcase some incredibly elegant items he has in his showroom. “We’re definitely a crooked place,” said 77 Coach Supply owner Atlee Kaufman with a laugh. That’s a familiar line at Stop #8 on the tour, where Kaufman and his employees are experts in the fine art of bent wood products. While no machinery will be running during the tour, guests will get an inside look into how a company can take a perfectly good, straight piece of wood and fashion it into pieces for rockers and gliders, tables, beds, chairs, plow handles and pretty much anything that would have a bent piece of wood on it.“We will show people the process of how we bend wood out of one solid piece of wood, be it cherry, white or red oak, maple or any of the eight or nine woods we work with every day,” said Kaufman. “We’ll show how we dry it and bend it, and shape it. We do a lot of furniture parts and carriage shafts, but anything that is bent we can make.”This stop is one which should be a delight, since very few people know exactly how bent wood is created on products. They only know that it shows up that way in the factory, so it should be quite an informative time. While the gang at 77 Coach Supply is very professional, Kaufman said that the art of bending wood is complicated, and even they snap a few pieces from time to time.“If it was easy everyone would be doing it,” said Kaufman with a chuckle.Stop #9 should be a tantalizing one, when patrons get a chance to sample all kinds of cheeses, and check out Heini’s Cheese House at Bunker Hill. There, travelers can find out how cheese is made, learn more about the Heini’s Cheese vision of creating its brand of yogurt cheeses and learn about how the company has been instrumental in utilizing numerous local dairy farmers for the most important ingredient in its cheeses — milk!Stop #10 on the tour brings visitors to Berlin, where they will be checking out the Amish & Mennonite Heritage Center on CR 77. There, visitors can get an in-depth view of what the Amish community is, and where the customs of the Amish and Mennonite people of the area come from. The big draw is the large cyclorama painting by Heinz Gaugel which portrays the history of the Amish and Mennonite people from the earliest days through the trials by fire of Martyr’s Mirror days to the here and now, and it’s all in vivid color with features both haunting and beautiful. In addition to the cyclorama, there are plenty of sights to see. An old barn housing a real Conestoga wagon is sure to draw interest. There is also a 15-minute video describing the Amish way of life, a one-room school house, an Amish buggy of today, and the book store and gift shop will be open, where patrons can find a great deal of information on the Amish and Mennonite heritage.