All farm tours will take place on Saturday, August 16, 2008. Be sure to sign up for a farm tour when you pre-register.

Walnut Ridge Farm is the first stop, with 30 acres of Canaan, Fraser and concolor firs; Scotch and white pines; and blue and white spruce first planted in 1977. The farm is primarily a Choose & Harvest operation, featuring a variety of equipment built for ease of operation. Visitors will tour the Harman’s 25 acres of black walnut trees and their 3-acre grape vineyard – the grapes will be ready for tasting! The next stop is Summerset Winery, one of the largest of Iowa’s 50+ wineries, for a tour and visit to the tasting room.

The tour continues on to Rettig Tree Farm, a wooded 12-acre farm of 9,000 trees, including concolor, balsam, Canaan and Fraser firs and Scotch and white pines. Each tree in this Choose & Harvest operation is tagged and priced according to quality. Especially interesting is the 4,650-foot long and 8-foot tall fence surrounding the trees for deer control.

The tour concludes at Murphy’s Walnut Hill Nursery, a 212-acre farm located 6 miles from the Des Moines city limits. Since 1967, 80 acres of the farm has been in forest, nursery stock or Christmas Tree production. The Murphys have done extensive reforestation plantings for the Army Corps of Engineers and private individuals. Visitors will also be able to see evidence of damage done by deer and an exceptionally hard winter.

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