2023 Chautauqua Grown Open Barn Doors Day

JAMESTOWN, NEW YORK (September 7, 2023) -- Cornell Cooperative Extension of Chautauqua County’s Agriculture Program is excited to invite you and your family to attend our first ever Chautauqua Grown Open Barn Doors Day! This event will be held on Sunday, September 17th, 2023 from 10:00am – 4:00pm. There are nine different locations to visit throughout the county, all of which have different interactive learning activities planned. This event is free of charge and family friendly for all ages! Guests are welcome to visit as many farms as they wish throughout the day and can register at each location to win a door prize of local products.

Millers Dairy Farm, 6219 South Road, Cherry Creek, will be hosting tours of their newly built barn with robotic milkers at 12:00 noon and 2:00pm. Guests will learn how technology and farming are intertwined, about the dairy industry, and visit a local farm family producing quality milk and pet a young dairy calf.

Walkers Alpaca Farm, 544 Railroad Ave, Cherry Creek, will be open and host tours and interactive activities throughout the day. Here you will get to see and learn about alpacas and maybe even get to give them a snack!

Green Heron Growers, 2361 Waits-Corners Road, Sherman, will be open to explore. Join us for a tour to see our pastured, rotationally grazed beef & chicken. This will include a wagon ride and some walking, with an explanation of how and why animals are raised on pasture. Tours leave on the hour, starting at 10am with the last tour at 3pm. Transportation by golf cart will be available if the wagon ride is too difficult for anyone. There will also be a Heron Horse Equine Sports Challenge event to observe this day on the property.

Big Tree Maple, 2040 Holly Lane, Lakewood, will be open and welcoming guests to tour their maple production facility, taste test maple products, and learn about how local maple is produced from tapping the trees to that sweet taste on your breakfast foods.

Munsee Farm, 1381 Panama-Bear Lake Rd, Panama, is best known for their sweetcorn, that is sold at their 5 local roadside stands. This stop will include a hayride to the field where guests will receive a tour that will explain the sweetcorn process from: soil preparation to planting / growing, harvesting and cover cropping.

Peterson Farm, 3260 Fluvanna Ave Ext, Jamestown, will be hosting the Slow-Moving Vehicles campaign that Cornell Cooperative Extension, the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office, and Farm Bureau have been promoting all summer. Visitors will get to see a tractor, Amish buggy, and patrol car up close and ask any questions. The farm store will also be open to visit.

Moon Meadow Farm, 2929 Moon Road, Jamestown, is a local beef farm that has an on-site meat processing facility. At Moon Meadow Farm you will be able to see the meat shop, taste samples of locally grown meat, and see how “marshmallows” are made! This location will also feature additional vendors and agri-businesses.

CLEREL, 6592 W Main Rd, Portland, is the Cornell Lake Erie Research Extension Laboratory where they study grapes, vegetables, and other fruits. This location will be open for guests to tour and learn about one of the leading agricultural industries in the county. Cornell AgriTech Campus that is dedicated to grape research and also has guest researchers working with vegetables too. There will be tours offered every hour. The tours will discuss the research being completed nationally and internationally.

H&R Rustic Acres, 12379 Alleghany Rd, Silver Creek, is a large sheep operation. Tours will be available, and guests will learn about the sheep industry and how many great products sheep provide. Guests will be invited to complete a needle felting activity which they will be able to take home as a souvenir.

The purpose of the event is to promote agriculture in Chautauqua County, which is the number one industry in New York State. There are approximately 1,300 farms, with over 200,000 acres in agricultural production. Chautauqua County ranks 1st in the State for number of farms, 10th in the State for total value of agricultural products sold, and 11th in the United States for grape production.

For more information, call Cornell Cooperative Extension at 716-664-9502 x 202 or visit us on Facebook.

The Agriculture Program is one of many programs offered by Cornell Cooperative Extension of Chautauqua County (CCE-Chautauqua). CCE-Chautauqua is a subordinate governmental agency with an educational mission that operates under a form of organization and administration approved by Cornell University as agent for the State of New York. It is tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. The association is part of the national cooperative extension system, an educational partnership between County, State, and Federal governments. As New York’s land grant university Cornell administers the system in this state. Each Cornell Cooperative Extension association is an independent employer that is governed by an elected Board of Directors with general oversight from Cornell. All associations work to meet the needs of the counties in which they are located as well as state and national goals. For more information, call 716-664-9502 or visit our website at www.cce.cornell.edu/chautauqua. Cornell University Cooperative Extension provides equal program and employment opportunities.

Last updated September 7, 2023