Open Farm Days - Connecting farming & food in Frontenac & Kingston

Good morning,

Thank you to everyone that joined the online discussion about Open Farm Days last evening.

We truly appreciate the time and valuable input everyone has provided.

It is important to hear from you; we have prepared a survey with the questions that guided the meeting discussion.

This is the link to the survey

Please take some time to complete the survey by the end of the day Sunday, November 3, 2024.

If you would like to connect with Open Farm Days partners or specific individuals for further discussion, please let us know. We are happy to arrange online or in-person follow-up meetings.

The feedback gathered from this meeting will be shared with our Committees and Council to help guide future decisions.

More information about Open Farm Days.

Thank you,

Debbi, Amanda, Ashley, Amber & Tracey

Meeting link shared. If you did not receive it or are having issues, please message Debbi - dmiller@frontenaccounty.ca

Meeting Agenda

• Open Farm Days Partners: Sharing key results, data, and insights from 2024.
• Round Table Discussion: A chance to listen, learn, and explore ideas for moving forward.

This was the seventh year of Open Farm Days, and as the initiative evolves, we remain committed to supporting the farming, agriculture, and food community. Each year, our partners dedicate substantial resources, both financial and human, to make this event a success, and we value your input to guide future efforts and decisions that need to be made.

Key Discussion Points

To foster a more meaningful and productive conversation, we’ve prepared a series of questions to guide the meeting. Please take some time to review the questions in advance so that we can have a deeper discussion during the meeting:

1. Does the agricultural community still wish to participate in Open Farm Days?
   • Would you prefer to continue with the 6-week format used in 2024?
   • Would a one-day event, one-weekend event, or year-round programming be more effective?
   • Are there other formats you'd suggest?
   • Please expand with ideas.
2. How can we, collectively increase involvement from farms, businesses, and community organizations?
3. Are the core goals of Open Farm Days still relevant to the region?
   • Does the event still serve these goals effectively?
4. Given the significant resources required for this initiative, should we consider limiting its size and scope or expanding it further?
5. Are there other agricultural or economic development efforts that could benefit from collaboration or individual attention?
   • Examples could include, providing resources or training to help farms create their own events, local farmers' markets, or supporting farm-to-table opportunities/connections.
6. What measures of success do you consider most important for Open Farm Days and for your event/experience?
7. Do you have the capacity and interest to participate in Open Farm Days in 2025 and beyond?

Can’t Make the Meeting? Share Your Feedback via Survey

If you’re unable to attend, we still want to hear from you! We’ve prepared a survey that includes these key questions with a few more and provides space for your thoughts and feedback. The survey link will be shared following the meeting.

Follow-up Opportunities

If you would like to connect with Open Farm Days partners or specific individuals for further discussion, please let us know. We are happy to arrange online or in-person follow-up meetings.

Your input is important. The feedback gathered from this meeting will be shared with our Committees and Council to help guide future decisions.

Thank you,

Debbi, Amanda, Ashley, Amber & Tracey

Good morning,

Thank you for your involvement and interest in Open Farm Days 2024! We appreciate your continued support and enthusiasm for this initiative.

We are pleased to invite you to our online meeting on Wednesday, October 23, at 7:00 p.m. The meeting link will be sent to you that morning.

This online meeting is in place of the previously scheduled in-person meeting on Tuesday, October 22 from 10:30-12.

Meeting Agenda

• Open Farm Days Partners: Sharing key results, data, and insights from 2024.
• Round Table Discussion: A chance to listen, learn, and explore ideas for moving forward.

This was the seventh year of Open Farm Days, and as the initiative evolves, we remain committed to supporting the farming, agriculture, and food community. Each year, our partners dedicate substantial resources, both financial and human, to make this event a success, and we value your input to guide future efforts and decisions that need to be made.

Key Discussion Points

To foster a more meaningful and productive conversation, we’ve prepared a series of questions to guide the meeting. Please take some time to review the questions in advance so that we can have a deeper discussion during the meeting:

1. Does the agricultural community still wish to participate in Open Farm Days?
   • Would you prefer to continue with the 6-week format used in 2024?
   • Would a one-day event, one-weekend event, or year-round programming be more effective?
   • Are there other formats you'd suggest?
   • Please expand with ideas.
2. How can we, collectively increase involvement from farms, businesses, and community organizations?
3. Are the core goals of Open Farm Days still relevant to the region?
   • Does the event still serve these goals effectively?
4. Given the significant resources required for this initiative, should we consider limiting its size and scope or expanding it further?
5. Are there other agricultural or economic development efforts that could benefit from collaboration or individual attention?
   • Examples could include, providing resources or training to help farms create their own events, local farmers' markets, or supporting farm-to-table opportunities/connections.
6. What measures of success do you consider most important for Open Farm Days and for your event/experience?
7. Do you have the capacity and interest to participate in Open Farm Days in 2025 and beyond?

Can’t Make the Meeting? Share Your Feedback via Survey

If you’re unable to attend, we still want to hear from you! We’ve prepared a survey that includes these key questions with a few more and provides space for your thoughts and feedback. The survey link will be shared following the meeting.

Follow-up Opportunities

If you would like to connect with Open Farm Days partners or specific individuals for further discussion, please let us know. We are happy to arrange online or in-person follow-up meetings.

Your input is important. The feedback gathered from this meeting will be shared with our Committees and Council to help guide future decisions.

Thank you for your time and for being a part of the Open Farm Days community.

We look forward to connecting with you and hearing your thoughts!

The Open Farm Days Team,

Debbi, Amanda, Ashley, Amber & Tracey

Good afternoon,

The Open Farm Days 2024 follow up meeting will now be Wednesday, October 23 at 7:00 p.m.

The meeting will be online. This is in place of the Tuesday, October 22 in-person meeting.

Please respond to this email to RSVP your attendance. or email - dmiller@frontenaccounty.ca

We will send out some questions to consider in advance of the meeting on Monday.

The meeting link will be sent out the morning of the meeting, so it is easy to access.

We really want to hear from you and hope you can make the meeting.

If you are not able to make the meeting, we have a survey we will circulate to ensure you are able to provide your input.

Thank you in advance,

Debbi, Amanda, Ashley, Amber & Tracey

Good afternoon,

Happy September! We hope this finds everyone enjoying the bounty of the harvest as we get back to routines.

A few updates from the Open Farm Days team:

• Thank you for the social media posts you have all been adding to your channels.
  • Please continue to share social media from farms, businesses, community organizations and partners to help amplify the Open Farm Days messages.

• SURVEY
  • Please complete the survey once your event is done to share feedback. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SSGSMCP
  • Please complete the survey by Monday, October 9, so we can review comments in advance of meeting with you.

• Mark your calendar!
  • 2024 Wrap Up Meeting - Tuesday, October 22 – 10:30-12 noon
  • Harris Park Hall is 5612 Perth Road Crescent, Perth Road
  • We want to hear from you about what went well, where things didn’t go well, things that may need to change and thoughts around Open Farm Days. We want to hear from you if you participated and if you chose not to participate.
  • This meeting will be for information gathering that we need to report on.
  • AGENDA for the meeting
    • The Open Farm Days team will provide an update, some data, general comments from 2024 Open Farm Days.
    • Engage with the group to listen, learn & understand ideas on how we move forward with Open Farm Days.

We hope you will join us. Please email to RSVP your attendance – dmiller@frontenaccounty.ca

If there is anything you need, please reach out to the team.

Have a wonderful week and thank you for all you do in our region!

Debbi, Amanda, Ashley & Amber

Good morning,

Welcome to summer, Frontenac & Kingston farms, businesses, and community organizations!

Welcome Amber Bryant-Peller from the City of Kingston, who is working on the initiative with us. We look forward to working with Amber.

We are working behind the scenes on Open Farm Days and look forward to marketing the initiative to our region.

Submit your experiences, events, and location information by July 5, 2024 to be included in the full marketing.

The full marketing includes marketing (social media posts/ads/boosted posts, signage, posters, postcards, website, and additional opportunities as they present) with partners including – Frontenac County, South Frontenac, Tourism Kingston, City of Kingston, and the Regional Tourism Organizations – RTO9 and Ontario Highlands Tourism Organization (OHTO).

Do you offer workshops, farm visits, cooking classes, experiences (flower field cutting, beekeeping, learn how to plant a garden) or have a farm or culinary event planned already at your site?

Then you are all set, you just need to submit them to be included on the Open Farm Days website and marketing.

Please send it along through Engage Frontenac - https://engagefrontenac.ca/open-farm-days

If you have photos, you want used on the website or in marketing, please email them to dmiller@frontenaccounty.ca

If you want to connect to discuss your experience/event or specifics around it (dates, times, details etc.), please reach out to one of the Open Farm Days partners and we would be happy to assist.

We are all cc’d on the email.

Open Farm Days 2024 – Connecting farming & food in Frontenac & Kingston

Launch event – Friday, August 16 – Frontenac Farmers Market in Centennial Park, Harrowsmith

Marketing begins the week of August 12 and runs until the end of September.

If you have any questions, please let us know.

Debbi, Amanda, Ashley, and Amber

Thank you for your interest in Open Farm Days 2024.

Planning is well underway for this year. Below are the notes from the meeting on April 23. If you have any questions or want to connect about your experience or location, please reach out to one of the Open Farm Days team members.

Open Farm Days – Virtual Meeting

Tuesday, April 23, 2024

OFD Team – Debbi, Amanda, Ashley, Tracey

Attendees

• Tarra – Frontenac Farmers Market, Bloom Farm
• Sarah – Rise Farm – Sharbot Lake Farmers Market
• Annelise – Market at Wolfe Island Commons, Fish Tale and Lured Bake Shop
• Tammara – Collective Joy
• Christina – Pyke Farms
• William – Gunguo Farm
• Tanya – Elements
• Ruth - AFA

Welcome & Updates

Welcome and round table introductions.

Open Farm Days launch for 2024 is Friday, August 16 until the end of September.

Tracey provided an update City of Kingston has joined Open Farm Days as a partner.

Website

• There have been various updates made to the Open Farm Days website.
  1. New Location page for all locations participating that is more about their business. All of their experiences will be linked to this page. These pages will remain and not be archived.
  2. FAQ page with more details and information. If you receive questions or have items to be added, please send them along.
  3. The homepage has been updated with multiple links to experiences, a section for the 3 next experiences, Farmers Market listings for all 5, additional information is being added as content about Open Farm Days.
• The website is still in development and will be shared once live…. anticipated timeline mid-July.
• Positive comments about the location page addition and that it appeared to be easy to navigate.

Website content submission form

https://engagefrontenac.ca/open-farm-days?tool=survey_tool#tool_tab

Please submit your experience and location content through the link above by June 10, 2024.

• June 10-July 15 - Website build out, design for posters, social media etc.
• Week of July 15 - Website live (after the accessibility audit)
• Content can continue to come in and be added but will not be included in any specific marketing.
• Event marketing focus from mid-August to end of September.

Posters/Postcards

• A sample of the posters was shared. The design will use multiple images demonstrating various types of experiences and locations involved in Open Farm Days.
• The Website content submission form also asks about quantity of posters and postcards you want for your business and to distribute.
• Marketing will include quotes from locations this year. Please submit quotes so we can work to make more connections with locations and visitors.

Survey questions.

• We understand and measure success through the data collected. This helps ensure support and funding. When we request funding through grant programs, we need data to demonstrate the success.
• Set up and learn Google Analytics – Meta for analytics….If you are interested reach out to Ashley for resources.
• We will share the survey questions as we get closer to the event.
  1. We ask that each location completes a survey. Some data to consider how you are collecting – numbers of attendees,
  2. spend at your location during event days,
  3. where visitors are coming from,
  4. How they heard about the event,
  5. eNewsletter, website and social media analytics.

Launch Event

• Friday, August 16 at the Frontenac Farmers Market, 3-7pm
• All Markets are welcome to have a table at the event. Amanda will be reaching out.
• If you are interested in participating as a booth, please contact Tarra.
• Similar structure to last year, speeches, welcome, ribbon cutting, music, enjoy the evening.

Round table

• Share your plans for Open Farm Days
  1. Bloom Farm is working on an event and will connect with other farms to encourage participation,
  2. WI Market – the space at the market is available in tandem with market/community events. If interested reach out to Annelise.
  3. Fishtale – space for intimate events/workshops etc.
  4. Collective Joy – Open House – drop in was done last year, considering this again.
     • Connections are of interest if there are events to join.
  5. Pyke Farm – open house/garden tour – considering this again.
  6. Wolfe Island Gardens/KTSH – possible involvement
  7. Elements – switch in timing is good. Will likely participate at the start of program.
  8. Sharbot Lake FM – 2 farm-to-table BBQ’s & workshops
     • Tourist destination
• Reach out if connections are needed or once you determine what you are doing.
• Submit your website content by June 10, 2024 - https://engagefrontenac.ca/open-farm-days

Questions/Comments

• Ruth (OFA) offered to do an email blast to the membership. Deb to send along content and the poster.
• Deb to create a 1 pager on Open Farm Days.
• Tracey updated the group for awareness that the City is working on design of posters, postcards, social media and Digital screen designs for the 5 Farmers Markets. This information will be shared with 5 Farmers Markets for distribution.
• If you want to brainstorm ideas or ask about anything, please reach out and the team will assist.

Good morning,

It is so nice to see the sunshine after the rainy weekend. I hope everyone is enjoying spring.

We have been working on Open Farm Days and doing lots of background prep for the initiative.

Meeting

Reminder of the virtual meeting on Tuesday, April 23 at 7pm.

I will send out the meeting link on April 23.

Agenda

• Welcome & updates
• Website
• Website content submission form
  • Timing
  • Insurance, KFL&A Public Health
• Posters/Postcards
• Survey questions
• Launch Event
• Round table
  • Share your plans for Open Farm Days
  • Anything needed?
• Questions

Connection list [attached]

• Thank you to everyone that has shared information for this list at various times.
• If you have content to be added or know someone that should be included, please send the information along.
• The list is intended to be used as a place for you to find connections you need within our community and for us to help make connections.

Engage Frontenac

• The meeting notes, forms and all things Open Farm Days are posted on Engage Frontenac.

Please feel free to pass it along to others that may be interested.

Open Farm Days logo

• Please see attached 2 jpg versions of the updated Open Farm Days logo. (green and black). If you would like the logos for use with your experience, please email one of the Open Farm Days team members.
• There are various logo formats available for print and digital.
• If you need a different format of the logo, please let me know.
• If you have questions about the logo, please let me know.

Open Farm Days team support

• If you are looking to connect with one of the team members or want to brainstorm ideas for your event, please reach out.

Have a wonderful day and we look forward to connecting with you at the meeting!

Debbi, Amanda, Ashley, and Tracey

A huge thank you to everyone that joined the discussion about Open Farm Days 2024!

There was a lot of great information shared with the group….so many exciting event ideas.

Please see attached a summary of the notes.

If I missed something, please send me a note and I will make sure I capture it.

Connections

I am working to put together the connections list to share with this group. The list can also be used on the Open Farm Days website, if you don’t want your information included online, please note it on the form.

Please send back the information outlined in the attached document to Debbi or to request the form. (dmiller@frontenaccounty.ca) to be added to the list. Thank you to everyone that has submitted the form already.

Links

• Engage Frontenac – Open Farm Days – this is where all the meeting notes, dates to remember, event info for farms, businesses and community organizations is located.
• There are links in the notes for the various links we referred to during the session.

NEXT STEPS

Virtual Meeting – Tuesday, April 23 – 7 p.m. Agenda to follow. Please mark your calendar.

We are working on marketing timelines for content submissions as well as the survey questions that we need everyone to complete after your events. We will share this information as soon as it is available.

Thank you for all each of you do in our community.

Debbi, Amanda, & Ashley

A huge thank you to everyone that joined the discussion about Open Farm Days 2024!

There was a lot of great information shared with the group….so many ideas to consider.

If you have thoughts or ideas today, tomorrow, or next week and want to share them, please send them along.

Please see attached a summary of the notes.

If I missed something, please send me a note and I will make sure I capture it.

Connections

• I am working to put together a connections list to share with this group. The list can also be used on the Open Farm Days website.

Please send back the information outlined in the attached document to Debbi (dmiller@frontenaccounty.ca) to be added to the list.

Links

• Engage Frontenac – Open Farm Days – this is where all of the meeting notes, dates to remember, event info for farms, businesses and community organizations is located.
• There are links in the notes for the various links we referred to during the session.

NEXT MEETING

• #2 – Open Farm Days 2024 Planning Session
• Tuesday, February 27, 2024, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Sydenham, Kingston Frontenac Public Library Community Room
• Agenda to follow.
• Please register so we can plan accordingly.

Thank you for all each of you do in our community.

Debbi, Amanda, Ashley & Tracey