Where Our Food Comes From: 4 Farm Tours for KC Kids
Do your children ever ask where their food comes from? Would you like to teach them more about the environment and “going green”? With Missouri and Kansas both sharing a rich agricultural heritage, Kansas City families can enjoy a tour of local farms and gardens and learn the answers firsthand!
Shatto Milk Company
816.930.3862
9406 N. Hwy 33, Osborn, MO
Visiting Shatto: Shatto Milk Company is a working dairy farm and milk bottling company offering tours to groups of any size. Call 816.930.3862 to schedule a tour or attend a special event. Tours are $5/ea. (for those 2 and up). In late June, attend Family Day at the Farm for free. Enjoy entertainment, hay rides and free lunch. In 2011, Shatto expanded with a Cheese Making Facility.
And on That Farm There Was a Cow… The Shatto family has farmed their land for more than 120 years, 70 of those as a dairy farm, with the milk bottling company opening in 2003. One thing that sets Shatto apart is that their cows are not treated with growth hormones. And of course, kids love another Shatto trademark… the unique flavors of delicious milk. From start to finish, you’ll witness where milk comes from on a Shatto tour. Children delight in petting calves, milking cows and meeting the famously happy herd. Watch through a window as milk is processed and bottled, and end your tour sampling delightful flavors! Root beer, strawberry, orange crème, banana and traditional whole or chocolate milk are a few delicious flavors of cold, creamy milk.
Going Green: Visitors often ask, “Why do they use glass bottles?” Shatto uses glass to keep the milk cold, provide the best flavor and protect the environment. Customers are encouraged to return glass bottles so they may be reused, decreasing waste in local landfills as part of Shatto’s commitment to reduce, reuse and recycle.
Green Dirt Farm
816.386.2156
In Weston, MO
Visiting Green Dirt Farm: Green Dirt Farm is a working sheep farm on the bluffs of the Missouri River Valley. The farm is open for tours Wednesday-Sunday. Tours are $8/ea. (for those 2 and up). Sturdy closed-toe shoes are important for the pasture walk. Call 816.386.2156 or email tours@GreenDirtFarm.com to make a reservation.
And on That Farm There Was a Sheep… Green Dirt Farm offers an educational tour unlike any other. Guests learn why grass is the best food for the 150 ewes on the farm, how important healthy soil is to the environment and what makes the cheese so good. Visitors also learn about pasture rotation while watching the dairy sheep graze on the hills. The highlights of the tour though, are the final steps: watching as the sheep are milked, the cheese is made in the kitchen and tasting samples! “During the tour, we talk about what grasses the sheep eat and how those grasses can be detected in the flavor of our cheeses,” Jacqueline Smith says. “It’s great to see kids tasting our cheese with such attentiveness to the flavor.”
Going Green: Green Dirt Farm makes high quality cheese while paying close attention to the environment and welfare of animals. Children learn the important links between soil, health and the environment. Smith says, “I think what surprises people most about Green Dirt Farm is how special the farm is since there is no other farm like ours in the U.S. Ours is one of two sheep dairies in Missouri.”
Powell Gardens
Heartland Harvest Garden
816.697.2600
1609 NW U.S. Hwy. 50, Kingsville, MO
Visiting Powell Gardens: Powell Gardens is open daily (except major holidays) with admission ranging from $4 to $9.50/ea. See late spring blooms and early cool season crops in the Heartland Harvest Garden.
And on That Farm There Were Some Crops… Powell Gardens, one of Kansas City’s botanical gardens, features many wonderful gardens. But one of the most educational for children is the Heartland Harvest Garden. Set on 12 acres, the Heartland Harvest Garden is the largest edible landscape in the United States. After a visit, children better understand where their food comes from. Children also love sampling foods at the tasting stations, which are open during growing season (weekends in April and daily beginning in May). “On any given day, you're likely to find several things to try, from basics like strawberries to more unusual items like Yard-long Noodle Beans,” Callen Zind says. “With more than 2,000 types of food plants, we can almost guarantee there will be something to surprise you!”
Going Green: Every day at Powell Gardens is a chance to learn more about the environment and new ideas to live "green." The Heartland Harvest Garden is a great place to witness sustainable gardening firsthand. The gardeners use companion planting, composting, beneficial insects, crop rotation and more to keep everything in balance and thriving, and you’ll almost always see someone working in the garden who will eagerly answer questions.
Bryant Family Farm
913.682.6811
In Leavenworth, KS
Visiting Bryant Family Farm: The Bryant Family Farm is a family-owned and operated farm producing organic meat and grains. Call 913.682.6811 to schedule a tour.
And on That Farm There Were LOTS of Animals… The Bryants have been farming since 2000, producing all natural grass-fed beef, pasture-raised turkeys and chickens and raw milk. Visitors enjoy touring the operating farm beginning at the hen house where children see healthy laying hens. Throughout the tour, learn how an alpine buck, milking goats, grass-fed turkeys, grass-fed cattle, chickens and pigs are raised in a natural and healthy environment.
Going Green: All animals on the farm are fed natural foods free of antibiotics, and crops are grown organically. The Bryants emphasize both organic, healthy farming and healthy, nutritious eating.
Kansas City mom Kristina Light solves the problem of answering questions like “Where does cheese come from?” with fun family outings to local farms and gardens.