CULLMAN, Ala. – The Cullman Farm-City Committee invites you on a fun and educational tour planned for Oct. 15. The main goal of Farm-City is to deepen understanding of the relationship between rural farmers and urban dwellers. Every year one of the highlights of our efforts is a regional tour, and this year’s tour will take us to Alabama’s Rocket City area from Elkmont to Huntsville and then to Belle Mina.
We will travel on Wallace State’s comfortable air-conditioned bus that can seat up to 50 people. This will be our tour limit- you must pre-register to reserve your seat for this tour.  We will gather to depart at 8 a.m. and should arrive back by 3:30 p.m. Those who pre-register will be given the departure location and details at that time.
The first stop on the tour will be the Belle Chevre Goat Cheese facility. Belle Chevre has been making fine goat’s milk cheeses in the tiny town of Elkmont, Alabama for 30 years! They are a passionate company dedicated to using time-tested, even ancient, recipes and then putting their own modern spin on them, producing some of the best goat cheeses made on the planet. We will tour their facility and experience a cheese tasting session afterwards.
Our next stop on the agenda will be the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, a nonprofit institute dedicated to developing and applying scientific advances to health, agriculture, learning and commercialization. Opened in 2008, HudsonAlpha’s vision is to leverage the synergy between discovery, education, medicine and economic development in genomic sciences to improve the human condition around the globe. HudsonAlpha has become a national and international leader in genetics and genomics research and biotech education and includes more than 30 diverse biotech companies on campus.
After this stop we will head to an Auburn University Research Station in nearby Belle Mina. There we will enjoy a wonderful overstuffed sandwich from Apple Lane Farms. After a relaxing meal we will take a short tour around the Research Station and hear from the station director about the agriculture research projects in which the station is currently involved. We should arrive back in Cullman about 3:30 p.m.
The entire cost for the tour, cheese tasting and lunch is only $15. Generous sponsors will pay the remainder of the cost. If you would like to join us on this full-day tour please let us know by calling the Cullman County Extension office at 256-737-9386 or emailing cullmancounty@aces.edu. When you contact us, we will give you additional details and a choice of sandwiches.
