Headwaters was an awesome example to us of how a farm/homestead can offer opportunities in many ways and to many people.  They had SO much going on!  One of the ways they were able to do this was through co-oping with others.  For example, they had a bee guy.  Randee’s Bees.  He was the beekeeper and got to keep his 100 + hives on the farm and the Market Farmer (also a co-op partner) took the jars of honey to the farmers market where he’d already be.  They also offered many workshops, retreats, and classes that others taught and got to use Headwaters as their venue.  I don’t know all the nitty gritty details of the contracts and percentage shared from each of the peolplethey co-oped with but it was a win-win situation for all involved while also offering some really neat things to the public.

Here’s a glimpse of the offerings we were in on or heard about:

Feet On Farm and Ontario Open Doors – every Saturday the farm lets people come and explore, eat wood-fired bagels and pizza, and buy from their little farm-gate stand.  Or they can just come and enjoy the view and/or walk through the permaculture kitchen garden.

Painting Bee Boxes– Randee the beekeeper hosted a free event where the community could come and paint bee boxes.  We got to join in too!  This was also an opportunity for the crowd to buy some wood-fired earth oven pizza at the farm.

Women’s Retreat

Writers Workshop

Sourdough Bread Making Workshop

Mother’s Day Foraging Tea Party

Here are some fun pictures of the hive painting day: