GLENGARRY - Daniel MacDonald had decided he wanted to be a dairy farmer while still in high school. He wrote in his high school yearbook, "Where there's milk there's money,"
"I didn't know better then," he quips.
Still, his enthusiasm and optimism in his chosen career is hard to mask.
A fifth-generation farmer, he likes to share his enthusiasm with others. He volunteered to host an Open Farm Day tour this Sunday.
"I always wanted to host one," he said. He was going to paint the dairy barn this year anyway but has put a rush on to get it done this week ahead of the tour which runs from noon to 5 p.m.
Glendairy Holsteins is located at 614 Doyle Rd. in Glengarry. Turn onto the O'Halloran Road at Bloomfield Corner and turn onto the second clay road on the left. The farm is also accessible along the North Cape Coastal Drive. Turn on to Route 144 in Burton and take the first left into Glengarry, travelling paved roads all the way to the farm.
Visitors will get an opportunity to view the farm's dairy and beef operations and to go for a horse and wagon ride through the farm's fields.
The farm has around 40 head of dairy cattle and currently milks 25. They have 30 cow-calf pairings and 100 head of beef cattle. They grow 30 acres of corn, 180 acres of grain and 150 acres of hay, much of it on rented land.
Open Farm Day
Prince County tour hosts
Clohossey Farms, Nail Pond
Host: Barry Clohossey, Civic # 14770 Rte.14 Nail Pond. Hours: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. A complete line of vegetables, including cucumbers, carrots, potatoes, beans, beets and corn.
Montrose Gardens
Hosts: Ivan and Theresa Hardy, Rte. 152 Civic # 1793, Montrose. Hours: 12 noon to 5 p.m. Locally grown vegetables as well as pickles and preserves. In the off-season, they sell Island-grown Tatery Christmas trees and Christmas wreaths.
Webbs Vegetables, O'Leary Corner
Hosts: Peter, Trevor, Thomas and Rosalie, Rte. 2 O'Leary Corner, Civic # 37383. Hours: 1 to 5 p.m.
Mixed vegetable crops including corn, potatoes, pumpkins, beans, peas, carrots, spinach, peppers, eggplant, herbs, beets, broccoli, lettuce, nikko, bok choi and joi choi. They also keep bees and extract honey.
Glendairy Holsteins, Glengarry
Host: Daniel MacDonald, Civic # 614, Doyle Rd., off Glengarry Road.Hours: 12 noon to 5 p.m. Beef cattle, approximately 25 milking cattle, hay, grains, corn.
Arlington Orchards
Hosts: Carol and Barry Balsom, Rte. 167 (Allen Rd); just off Rte. 131. Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Orchard with 26 acres of apples (a mixture of modern and historical varieties), four acres of pears, one acre of plums and one acre of cherries. They grow 28 varieties of apples.
Kool Breeze Farms, Summerside
Hosts: The Simmons Family, 231 Read Drive, on Rte. 1A, Summerside. Hours: 1 to 5 p.m. (store hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.)
Garden centre and egg farm. A wind turbine powers the entire
operation.
Pleasant Farm,
Fernwood
Hosts: Ranald and Melanie Macfarlane
Salutation Cove Road, near Chelton Beach. Hours: 1 to 4:30 p.m.
Small, mixed farm that produces crops to feed farm livestock, free-range pigs, beef cattle and pastured dairy cattle.
Rol-Land Farms,
Freetown
Hosts: Randy Fischer, Civic #284, Freetown Road (Rte. 8)
Hours: 1 to 4:30 p.m. White button mushroom farm.
