Agritourism World is supposed to be a free world-wide directory of farms, ranches, farmhouses, wineries, and other country businesses open to the public. Wow!! I have visited one of these for the first time today. What a seedy business? Taking the grandchildren to see a farm in Autumn turned out to be a series of rip off tourist traps.
I spent many months on a farm as a child. I never saw a playground for children with a bouncy house and a castle with a moat. That would have certainly been a distraction from all the hard work which was going on at the fall end of the year. The fact that it was Ten dollars per child and seven dollars per adult to enter this
so called playground was a sure deterrent for this family. A hungry looking pony and a few goats and chickens keep the youngest amused for about ten minutes while an "Umpa umpa" band played outside the cafeteria. Refreshments were available at a hefty price. Chicken fingers cost five dollars and fifty cents while french fries were two dollars fifty. Thats a nice bunch of change for the farmer after the drinks and doughnuts for seven people. To crown the afternoon a free trip on the hay wagon to the apple orchard. Oh no wait a minute here are some plastic bags at four-fifty each. Yes this is the cost of the apples one picks. The tractor dropped us off at the point in the orchard which needed picking. Indeed many of the apples has dropped from the trees and were rotting on the ground. What a waste my farmer uncle would have turned over in his grave to see this sight. Yes---get the stupid townies to pick your apples at an exorbitant price.
These were not the only "rip offs" on the so called farm. There were shops, bars and a winery. Everything remotely connected to Autumnal artifacts at exorbitant prices were in every fake barnhouse.
There was a feeling of sadness as we left the very organised parking lot, hugging our stuffed bags of apples. How are our leaders treating the farmers of this country to reduce them to this level of making a living? Maybe it is easier to let the townies pick the apples than to put them on palats and send then to market as I did as a child. Times have certainly changed!
