Each year, Greene County Commissioners hop on a bus and head out across the region to visit agriculture businesses. The Agriculture Tour is hosted by University Extension.
The first of six sites the group visited Friday was Tasty Acres just north of Springfield off Highway 65. People can pick their own strawberries in the spring, their own tomatoes in the summer and purchase pumpkins, flowers and other fall items this time of year.
Peyton Andrews is the co-owner of Tasty Acres, along with her husband. She said she loves seeing how the farm brings joy to people.
"They're happy to be here. The come kind of at the mindset that I'm going to go somewhere, and I'm going to connect," she said. "I'm not going to be on my phone — there isn't even really good reception out here — so they're going to be in the moment, with their family. They may be having a coffee on the porch while they're listening to music, they might be out in the field playing tic-tac-toe, but they're not going to be doing the things that, you know, keep us separate like all the technology and things that we have every day."
Andrews began farming full-time after working in other fields, including at the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce. She worked for two years at a mental health facility. Now, she's providing a space where people can set aside their problems for awhile and have fun.
Andrews showed the group her strawberry plants, with shiny green leaves in neat rows. It takes the Andrews two long days to plant. Because of this fall’s heat dome, they had to install a sprinkler system "that sprayed a continuous light sprinkle that basically made all the air around the strawberries about 10 degrees cooler," she said. "So, they were living in the 80s while we were suffering in the 100s."
Andrews said that’s just one way they’re having to adapt to the extreme weather changes.
Planting the strawberries involves using a contraption that four people sit on as it moves across the field.
"If you miss a hole, your partner in the back is helping you to fill those holes. Basically, water goes down in through here in this wheel," she said, pointing to a part of the equipment, "those spikes dig the hole, pushes some water into the hole. You plant and kind of squeeze the plant in for a second and move onto the next one."
Another piece of equipment is used for harvesting. Six people lie belly down on padded boards and pick and sort berries as they move over the rows. To demonstrate how it works, she had county commissioners and the Greene County Clerk lie down on the boards to see what it was like.
"So, stay on there for a minute. I want you to kind of feel how it is on your shoulders and your pecs," she said. "So, we stay like this for six hours a day. You think in your head, like, you're not bending down, it's so much fun. It is a little bit difficult on your shoulders and your back."
The equipment is covered so the workers are protected from the sun. They sort into three bins: good, bad and jam berry quality.
"So, we're constantly picking all three, so in your head you've got to be able in just a couple of seconds to determine what the quality of the berry is as you're picking it and looking at another berry to pick it," she said, "so you're just moving that fast."
The Andrews hire teens as young as 14 to work on their farm.
A few yards away, 1,300 tomato plants with fruit still on them grow in rows – with just enough room to walk through them. The Andrews offered pick-your-own tomatoes for the first time this year. They also grow things like peppers, okra and elderberries.
The focus at Tasty Acres is agritourism. Besides pick-your-own and fall activities, the Andrews have a shop where people can purchase gift items, coffee, ice cream and more. They key, according to Andrews, is to offer people a variety of options.
"That's how agritourism works is it's like a cake," said Andrews. "You're just layering on, ok, you're here for tomatoes, but your mom's here for flowers, and your grandma's here because she wanted something pre-picked, and your dad's here having a good time on the porch eating ice cream, and we add all those layers in to where it's an experience."
By the way, she emphasized that pre-picked items are meant for those physically unable to go out in the field and pick their own.
Andrews said she does a lot of social media marketing – they have around 15,000 followers on Facebook. And they partner with several area organizations.
"We do a lot of work with charities, like Springfield Community Gardens, well, they're not really a charity, you know what I mean? Doing community development work," she said to the group. "Working with Ozarks Food Harvest. Like, I'll do a coffee day with SPS teachers and have them come in for 50% off, so I'm doing a lot of things with local community members that make it feel like their farm, is kind of my social media strategy. It's creating ownership locally and kind of pride in our area here."
The Andrews try to make sure that none of their produce goes to waste. They partner with Ozarks Food Harvest to glean their fields and with Farmers Market of the Ozarks and Springfield Community Gardens – SCG bought 400 pounds of tomatoes for their senior programs. And they help other area farmers by purchasing things like mums, pumpkins and straw for the fall season as well as any extra produce they might need throughout the year.
Kyle Whitaker is an engagement specialist with University Extension, which hosts the tours.
"Over the years when we've done these commission ag tours, we've seen a wide variety of things," he said. "I mean, we've seen dairy cattle operations, beef cattle operations, and we try to make stops like this one that is a small farm where it's family owned and operated so that they can see, you know, that aspect of, like here, the agritourism and the production side of it."
They visit all kinds of ag businesses each year – from small to large.
Commissioner Rusty MacLachlan said the tour allows them to see the many ag businesses operating in Greene County.
"To experience the ag community, I think is very important," he said, "particularly with the work that we do we need to be aware of what goes on in our community and just who we're serving."