Other sustainable farms around the world ripe for the visiting.
Herrmannsdorfer Landwerkstatten
Glonn, Germany
Forty minutes southeast of Munich sits a 450-acre sustainable farm and food complex started by Karl Ludwig Schweisfurth after the former “sausage king” sold his industrial pork business in 1984. The family-run organic farm raises free-roaming pigs and sells the meat in an on-site restaurant and butcher shop and to other restaurants. Visitors can stroll the grounds and stay for a pastry, picnic, full meal (on the pricey side) or frothy beer at the organic brewery.
Free tours are held Saturday at 11:30 a.m.; the schedule varies seasonally. herrmannsdorfer.de
Four Season Farm
Harborside, Maine
Longtime farmers and writers Barbara Damrosch and Eliot Coleman are internationally recognized for their year-round small-scale sustainable agricultural methods in the far northern state of Maine. Although there are guided tours, visitors to the summertime farm stand are welcome to poke around the highly productive acre-and-a-half of vegetables and half-acre of greenhouses. The couple recently added select livestock.
The farm stand and art gallery are open 1 to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, June through September. fourseasonfarm.com.
Abalimi Bezekhaya
Cape Town, South Africa
This well-respected project on the outskirts of Cape Town is a series of about 20 community gardens cultivated with the help of Abalimi, an urban agriculture and environmental action association. The gardens were created to help residents, groups and community organizations develop permanent organic food-growing and conservation projects to help put food on their tables, create jobs and bring in revenue.
Tours are typically held on Tuesday morning, meeting in Wynberg. There is no charge, but donations are appreciated; email info@abalimi.org.za for details.
abalimi.org.za.
Growing Power
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
This two-acre farm in Milwaukee, started in 1993, blossomed nationally when founder Will Allen won a $500,000 genius grant from the MacArthur Foundation in 2008. What started as a program to give teens work and improve the urban landscape has become a national and global laboratory for sustainable food systems. Allen used to guide tours, but these days, he is usually on the road; he does still lead weekend workshops. Tours, which last 90 minutes, cover the farm’s growing methods, worm and fish compost, honeybee pollination methods, greenhouses and gardens.
Held daily at 1 p.m., tours are $10 a head, $7 each for 10 or more. Call 414-527-1546 for details. growingpower.org.
Virgin Islands Sustainable Farm Institute
Virgin Islands
Covering more than 200 acres in the rain forest of St. Croix, this farm and educational center is the only certified-organic farm in the U.S. Virgin Islands. It was founded in 2003 to promote local and sustainable agriculture, and hosts a series of workshops for youth and adults from the islands and elsewhere. Maps are provided for visitors who wish to tour the vegetable gardens and fruit orchards, and guided tours may be arranged in advance. Rustic lodging is available.
Two-hour guided tours cost $25 a person. Email rebecca@visfi.org for details. visfi.org.
