Savvy farmers open the gate to agritourism

In North Carolina, a growing number of small-scale, sustainable farmers see tourists as a cash crop — and a way to help diversify away from tobacco, says Martha Glass of the state's agriculture department. The agency lists more than 350 farms, wineries and other agricultural businesses on its website, visitncfarms.com.

The university town and culinary magnet of Chapel Hill boasts more than a dozen restaurants with fare from regional Piedmont farms. Among them is Fickle Creek in nearby Efland, where partners Ben Bergmann and Noah Ranells work 60 acres with the help of biodiesel-fueled vehicles and embrace the eat-local ethic by limiting sales of their Jersey beef, Ossabaw hogs and other products to a 23-mile radius. They invite overnight guests to help gather freshly laid eggs from a bevy of pastured chickens — eggs that, along with just-snipped chives or arugula and a side of savory pork bellies, could wind up on their breakfast plates that morning.

About a three-hour drive west of Chapel Hill near the Blue Ridge hamlet of Valle Crucis, 5-year-old Maverick Farms offers bed-and-breakfast with a twist that evokes founder Tom Philpott's stint at an agriturismo, or Italian working farm. His experimental non-profit, featured in Gourmet magazine, lets guests deduct $7 an hour, or up to 25% of a $120-a-night stay at Maverick's 125-year-old farmhouse, for each hour they participate in such chores as planting spinach beds or stringing green beans.

Wisconsin, a state better known for cornfields and large commercial dairies than for organic farms, is jumping on the foodie hay wagon as well, says travel writer Mary Bergin, author of the upcoming book Hungry for Wisconsin. Two-year-old Milwaukee-based Braise on the Go, for example, hosts traveling culinary classes that showcase farm tours and on-site cooking demonstrations.

Virginia's Polyface, about a 20-minute drive off Interstate 81 via scenic, winding roads that peter out in Pure Meadows Lane, is open for free, self-guided visits Monday through Saturday. Since Pollan's book thrust it to prominence in the culinary world, Polyface has tried to channel fans to once-a-month free tours — which fill up months in advance — or to two-hour versions guided by one of the farm's 10 employees.