GFB News Magazine

Mother, daughter duo makes memories with Farm Passport

Posted on May 22, 2021 12:00 AM

Angela Gary and her mother, Sarah Gary, of Commerce, visited farms listed in GFB’s Farm Passport the past two years to create memories and support local farmers. They’re already looking forward to their 2021 adventures.

Learn more about the program & find participating farms at www.gfb.ag/farmpassport . Passports are available at your local Farm Bureau office or any of the participating farms.

Before you visit a farm, check its social media or call to verify its operating hours and if it has the seasonal crops you hope to buy in stock.

By Angela Gary

My mother and I had so much fun during the first year of Georgia Farm Bureau’s Farm Passport program in 2019 that we decided to do it again last year. 

In 2020 we were on the road again - stopping at large and small farm markets to purchase local produce, jams, and honey, and to collect stamps in our farm passport. We visited some of our favorite GFB Certified Farm Markets for the second year as well as a few new farms in the program. We shopped for strawberries in the spring, fresh vegetables in the summer, apples in the fall and Christmas trees at the end of the year.

 You get prizes based on the number of stamps you collect in your passport as you visit farms.  We enjoyed visiting the farms more than the prizes themselves. It was fun to meet all of the wonderful people and learn about their farms and taste some of the wonderful products from their hard work.

We especially enjoyed visiting a new addition to the program last year that is very close to home for us, O5 farms in Jefferson. We picked blueberries, enjoyed a shaved ice treat and purchased some lovely flowers to brighten the kitchen.

Both the Alto and Banks Crossing locations of Jaemor Farms are once again in the passport, so that makes it easy to get two stamps on the passport close to home, while supporting a local business. We’re fortunate we live close to Ellijay, which has some great apple barns.

It’s also fun to venture a little farther from home and discover farms in other areas of the state. You will love discovering where your food comes from, meeting the people who grow it, and seeing our state’s agricultural diversity up close! We’re looking forward to getting on the road in 2021 and going to our old favorites and discovering new farms.