Cypress County’s TRAD Worm Industries open to visitors during Alberta Open Farm Days

The farm located at 12317 Range Road 65 just off of Holsom Road, west of Medicine Hat will be open to visitors Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Visitors are encouraged to let them know they are coming online, although it’s not necessary to RSVP.

TRAD specializes in vermicomposting and organic waste recovery.

Vermicomposting by definition is the use of earthworms to convert organic waste into fertilizer.

A hands on look at the world of worms and soil health will be on display.

Owner Roxanne Doreksen said this is their first time participating in the event.

“This is our first foray into opening our farm, and letting everybody come and see what we do,” Doerksen said.

“It’s kind of gritty and dirty, but what we produce at the end of the day is really remarkable, and figuring out how to do that while working and using worms has been a real challenge.”

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READ: Millions of worms helping create healthier food in Cypress County

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Doerksen said visitors can expect a super cool experience.

“You’ll get to come in, and you’ll get to see the actual feedstock, so what we actually feed the worm. How we take this garbage that is gross and feed it to the worm, and turn it into worm things that cement the soil,” Doerksen said.

“The second thing they’ll see is [we have] microscopes out, and compost extract, and how we make it, and what it actually does in the soil, and if people want to make it at home, we’ll show them how to figure out if they’re making good extract or not good extract by using microscopes. So we are investigating what that actually means,” she added.

“The third thing is we’ll take you out to the monster compost windrows, where we take agricultural waste, and we turn it into compost that is incredibly biodiverse, and then what you can use it for, and we make different types of compost.”

The next thing you can see at TRAD is pretty sweet.

“The fourth thing is we’ll show you some bees, and we use bees in our field for pollination. We’ll let you taste some of the honey that is being produced here, and then you can wash your hands outside, and hopefully you learn something,” Doerksen said.

“We have an honor house, [that] will be open, and you can see all of the products that we make, and how to use them, and all that sort of stuff.”

As part of Alberta Open Farm Days there is always something free that each participant gives to those who visit.

“We are gonna have a giveaway, so people put their names in the bucket, and then [the winner gets] a sample pack of everything that we do, and a yard spray,” Doerksen said.

“Everybody that comes gets a little tiny teabag to take home.”

Doerksen credits Abby Czibere from Tourism Medicine Hat for encouraging her to participate in Alberta Open Farms Days this year.

“Abby, has been extraordinary. She has gone above and beyond looking for ways to promote Southern Alberta, especially Medicine Hat, and she is the one that reached out to us and to see if we would be a good fit for that,” Doerksen said.

“I’ve been to open farms in Northern Alberta, and I was [at] one in Lethbridge. I’ve seen a traditional farm, then I went up to Spirit Wine in Edmonton. It was really interesting as a farmer to be able to see how other farms work and how they sort of manage expectations and all that sort of stuff,” she added.

“I have to say, Abby has been unbelievably gracious and supportive, because I was scared poopless.”

Doerksen said it took her some encouragement to decide to invite people to her yard for the event.

“Coming into your yard and all those sorts of places, and they have access to stuff. You don’t know how the public is going to take it,” Doerksen said.

“She [Abby] has been so gracious to be like, you know, it’s okay, people can have opinions, but what you’re doing is important, and you want to teach people how and why you think it’s important,” she added.

“She has been an absolute gift. Tourism Medicine Hat has been a gift.”

Doerksen said it is important for the public to have a positive opinion of the agriculture industry, which hosting through Alberta Open Farms days could help provide.

“Being born and raised on a farm, I have a very set idea of what farming is. But I think agriculture at large has been getting sort of a negative environmental wrap,” Doerksen said.

“I think this is an incredible way to show people who aren’t necessarily in the world of ag, that we do care about what kind of stewards we are to the land. We do care how food is being grown, and we make it our life’s mission to do it to the very best of our abilities,” she added.

“You know, we acknowledge we make mistakes, but we are trying to learn from mistakes and move forward. I think this is one of the best ways to give a very unfiltered, very un-Hollywood access to farms”

She said there is importance to the public being able to see the successes, and the struggles that farmers have, and how incredibly important it is to be good at their jobs.

“I think that in and of itself has been an extraordinary gift to people who don’t necessarily have access to farms,” Doerksen said.

“I am so grateful that open farms has really championed the idea of allowing people to intimately experience what farming is, not the sanitized version of it,” she added.

“I think it’s awesome.”

She hopes that when people come for tours to the farm, they come away knowing a difference can be made.

“We don’t have to be farmers to make a difference, we don’t have to be ag to make a difference, but we can make a difference by how we deal with our garbage, how we buy food and how we support farming,” Doerksen said

“Understanding the policies that are coming down from government. If it’s going to be in the best interest of what we want as Alberta ag and people that eat food.“

by Jesse Gill

Cypress County’s TRAD Worm Industries open to visitors during Alberta Open Farm Days

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