Ontario Farm Fresh Marketing Association
Bus Tour Supplement
to Newsletter #339
Tennessee
2019 Best Practices International Study Tour
Wednesday, Nov. 6th to Saturday, Nov. 9th
OFFMA is planning an outstanding tour
this year. Members will get a chance to
kick back and relax while they are visiting
innovative, interesting on-farm markets
and venues. We will be starting in Nash-
ville on Nov. 6 and wrapping up in Knox-
ville on Nov. 9.
Tennessee is understandably known as
the Soundtrack of the USA due to the
many genres of music that have originat-
ed from Nashville and Memphis. Should I
also mention that Tennessee is also
known for its
whiskey. Any-
way, the combi-
nation of music
and a few drinks
makes for an
easy and enjoya-
ble farm oriented
bus tour. Here
are some of the
places we are
looking to ex-
plore.
Lucky Ladd
Farms
Lucky Ladd
Farms offers a
unique farm experience. It is home to
Tennessee’s largest petting farm, featur-
ing over 100 friendly animals and exotic
livestock. Families love the award-
winning 60 acre farm park for its inventive
attractions that appeal to all ages with
acres of playgrounds, hands-on animal
encounters, pony rides, nature trails and
educational exhibits. Owners, Jason and
Amy Ladd also feature their homegrown
country store stocked full of local gourmet
goodies, flavourful sauces and fresh pro-
duce. www.luckyladdfarms.com
Milky Way Farm
The Milky Way Farm began with the vision
of Frank Mars who purchased land in Ten-
nessee in the 1930’s after the success of
his Milky Way candy bar. It was known for
prize Herefords, fast horses, fine
sheep, incredible barns and
breathtaking views. The farm fea-
tures an elegant twenty-five thou-
sand square foot manor house
with twenty bedrooms and four-
teen baths. Current owners Lynn
Jones Golden and sister Kathryn
Jones Hanley are hosting fun
events, trail runs, weddings, cele-
brations, and tours, as well as
hosting groups for meetings and
country breakfasts & luncheons in
the Manor House dining room.
www.milkywayfarm.org
Jack Daniel Distillery
You just can’t visit Tennessee without going
to the Jack Daniel Distillery. Jack Daniel’s
is one of world’s iconic whiskeys. There’s
even a bit of Canada included in the recipe.
It’s based on a mash composed of 80%
corn, 12 % malted barley and 8% rye. Corn
and barley are from the US, the rye from
parts of Canada. Even though Jack Dan-
Page 2
iel’s Tennessee Whiskey has made
Lynchburg famous and brings in more
than 200,000 tourists each year the
consumption of alcohol is still prohibit-
ed here. It’s because of a law dating
from the time of prohibition that hasn’t
been abolished yet. There’s one little
exception: Selling of whiskey is allowed
at the Distillery and its Visitor Centre.
www.jackdaniels.com
Red River Farm
Tyler & Margo Sneed started out grow-
ing fruits and vegetables. They have
blackberries, grapes, corn, cucumbers,
squash, peppers, tomatoes, and
more! What they pride themselves on
are their Tennessee peaches, with over
500 peach trees and 3 different varie-
ties. They have expanded the farm
from not only growing vegetables and
fruits, but now hosting special events,
weddings, fall attractions, school tours,
and farm to table dinners.
www.redriverfarmstn.com
Honeysuckle Hill Farm
Honeysuckle Hill Farm has had 15
years of Sharing Traditions and Making
Memories with Tennessee families and
is one of the best places in Tennessee
for family fun on the farm. They are a
200 acre family farm centrally located
near Nashville. Throughout the year
Jeff Alsup and family offer zipline cano-
py tours, birthday parties, private cor-
porate events, and field trips. Then
come fall, they throw a huge month
long Fall Festival offering rides and
including the Scream Creek Haunted
Attraction and Nashville’s Music City
Corn Maze, special events, delicious
concessions and a Farm Market to
take goodies home with you.
www.honeysucklehillfarm.com
Keller’s Corny Country
After providing a Harvest Festival for
their church and community for five
years, the Keller’s decided to take it to
the next level and started Keller’s
Corny Country, pumpkin patch and
corn maze, in 2008. Now, each Octo-
ber they offer educational field trips to
students throughout the week and are
open to the public on weekends for
pick-your-own pumpkins, and other
family friendly activities.
In 2012 they started on-farm weddings
in their 4,000 sf barn and have been
honored to of been a part of nearly
200 weddings to date, as well as
proms, birthday parties, corporate pic-
nics and family reunions.
Bryan and Tonya are members of the
North American Farmer’s Direct Mar-
keting Association.
www.kellerscornycountry.com
The Grove at Williamson Place
The Grove is located on 243 acres,
between fields of berries and produc-
tion agriculture. Prior to becoming an
event facility the farm was operated by
the Williamson family as a dairy farm.
Today, the farm is still owned by the
Williamson Family, actively farmed by
Batey Farms and the original dairy
barns have been renovated to offer
multi-purpose event space on a daily
operating farm. The 4,800 sq ft main
barn perfectly preserves rustic charac-
teristics with modern amenities to pro-
vide the ideal atmosphere for any oc-
casion. The main barn is available for
booking year round, complete with air

condition for the summer months, and
heat for the cooler/ winter months.
Parking is on site, so no transportation
services are needed.
www.thegroveatwilliamsonplace.com
Batey Farm
The Batey Farm’s 200 year old cabin
will welcome you with the smell of cedar
and old times gone by as you browse
their store to find offerings from many
different local family farms. To compli-
ment all of their yummy pork products,
they offer local farm dairy products,
cheeses, honey, jams, sauces, and
eggs.
In addition to the farm store, John Batey
and family operate an event facility on
a neighbouring farm.
The original dairy barns have been ren-
ovated to offer multi-purpose event
space. Their 4,800 sq ft main barn per-
fectly preserves rustic characteristics
with modern amenities to provide the
ideal atmosphere for any occasion.
www.bateyfarms.com
Green Door Gourmet
Green Door Gourmet is a 350 acre
farm, on-farm market, and agritourism
destination in Nashville, Tennessee.
Nestled along the Cumberland River,
their farm is just minutes from down-
town! They grow a wide variety of fruits,
flowers, vegetables and herbs. Owners,
Sylvia & Al Ganier provide their custom-
ers, including their Local Farm Box par-
Supplement to Newsletter #339 Page 3
ticipants, local restaurants and florists,
with the absolute best direct-from-the-
field produce. Their on-farm market
offers co-operatively sourced products
from the area’s best local producers;
including grass fed meats, honey,
jams, dairy, baked goods, and much
more! Their agritourism operation of-
fers the perfect setting for farm wed-
dings, educational field trips, farm-to-
table dinners, corporate events, and
social occasions.
www.greendoorgourmet.com
Cruze Farm at Asbury
The Cruze Dairy Farm was established
in 1980 by Earl & Cheri Cruze having
built a processing plant for bottling milk
and in 2010 Colleen Cruze-Bhatti and
Manjit Bhatti began the journey to save
the family dairy farm. Asbury is the
community where the original dairy op-
eration started and this location is so
special to them because it brings
their dairy journey full circle. 40
years later, they are back in the As-
bury community, reviving the won-
derful memories and spreading joy
with fresh churned ice cream and
delicious pizza! OFFMA visitors will
appreciate hearing their story and
the amazing job they have done in
branding and marketing their revitali-
zation. www.cruzefarm.com
Page 4

The Apple Barn Cider Mill Send in your registration forms

The Apple Barn really is a barn built (included with this supplement)
back in 1910. The old cattle barn got a today, (deadline October 14th)
thorough makeover and began a new
era as The Apple Barn in 1981. Their and pack your bags for one fun-
orchard now numbers over 4,000 apple filled, honky-tonk, educational,
trees. They added a Cider Room where
you can actually watch a variety of ap-
idea generating trip. Space is first
ples being pressed into cider and then come, first served. So get your reg-
a Cider Bar, where people can drink
cider hot or cold. With all those apples
istrations in early if you are inter-
they just naturally had to include the ested in joining us.
Apple Pie Kitchen, where they bake For questions or further infor-
treats like fried apple pies, apple
doughnuts, and apple dumplings. Over mation, contact:
the last 20 years they have introduced Cathy Bartolic, 905-506-0371 ,
their own very special apple butter and
the Candy Factory which produces orig- info@ontariofarmfresh.com
inal sweets, and making their own ice
cream for "The Creamery" ice cream
parlor, starring apple specialties. Their
expansion included the renowned origi-

nal Applewood Farmhouse Restaurant

and the Applewood Farmhouse Grill
and the Apple Barn Winery. Everything
apple is what you will find at The Apple
Barn and Cider Mill.
www.applebarncidermill.com