Melissa Lanz feeds a llama Tuesday at Bitter Water Rescue Ranch. (Photo Courtesy of Colton McKee)

By Chris Brown

Alberta Open Farm Days

Get a taste of farm life this weekend

Aug 11, 2020 | 3:13 PM

CYPRESS COUNTY, AB – Alberta Open Farm Days returns this Saturday, connecting city slickers with those who produce the food they eat.

Farms across the province open their gates to the public to provide tours, showcase their operations and in some cases give unique farm to table culinary events.

Bitter Water Rescue Ranch is the lone local participating farm. Owner Melissa Lanz says Alberta Open Farm Days is a great outreach program to connect urban people and rural activities.

“A lot of people don’t really realize that they can contact their local farms and ranches and actually open up a dialogue with them and this is just a great opportunity to express ourselves while showing people our lifestyles,” she said.

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Interaction with animals will be a highlight of the day at Bitter Water Rescue Ranch.

“We’re going to have some llamas, hopefully our alpaca will come in. We’re going to have some sheep, some goats, one of our bottle-fed lambs from the summer Tara is going to be there,” says Lanz. “We’re also going to be showcasing one of our pot-bellied pigs that’s going to be available for adoption in September and she’s a little cutie.”

She adds people will be able to pet, play and give belly rubs to most of the animals, but that some are a little picky about who they let get close.

All public health guidelines will be followed, including limiting the number of people in the pens and store at one time and having people use hand sanitizer before and after any animal interactions.

Pre-booking your visit online will help keep those numbers in check but it’s not mandatory, says Lanz.

“We’re going to be open from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. and we’re just going to have someone double-checking our numbers, making sure that everybody is following proper social distancing protocol.”

Bitter Water Ranch Rescue specializes in taking in abused and neglected llamas and alpacas, says Lanz.

“We try and retrain them so they can be eligible for re-homing. We also take in the occasional large farm animal – pot-bellied pigs, sheep, goats, lambs, ducks and chickens.”

If you want to travel a little further for your farm fix, Bylsma Farms and CP Farms just west of Taber are also welcoming people to their operations.

For a full list of participating farms and more information on the weekend visit albertafarmdays.ca.