The North is Calling: An Overnight Guide to Exploring Agritourism and Open Farm Days
Grande Prairie doesn’t feel like the edge of the map once you’re standing in it. It feels like the middle of something — the Peace Country’s own working landscape of pastured pigs, sunflower fields, orchard rows, and small operations rebuilding the ground under them one paddock at a time. This August, six farms scattered between Grande Prairie, Sexsmith, and Saddle Hills County are opening their gates for Open Farm Days, and the distances between them are short enough to turn a single afternoon into an actual weekend.
Here’s how to make a two-day loop out of it — where to stop, what to see, and where to sleep when the sun finally goes down over the Peace.
Day One: Grande Prairie and the Sexsmith Cluster
Start close to town. Country Roads RV Park, just north of Costco off 116 Street, has a full slate planned — horse and tractor-drawn wagon rides through the farm and orchard, a juicing demonstration using their own berries, a wine tasting with Joosed Moose Winery, cow train rides for the kids, Highland cows on hand, an equipment lineup, seasonal fruit u-pick, and the grand opening of the GP Corn Maze. There’s a market set up in the Olde Barn Hall and food trucks on site. Note that this year’s lineup isn’t fully confirmed yet and is weather permitting, so it’s worth checking their listing closer to the date — but even a scaled-back version is an easy place to lose two or three hours without meaning to.
From there, head toward Sunflower & Swallow Gardens & Greenhouse, also in the Grande Prairie area. This is the kind of stop that you will need your camera to do the talking — rows of sunflowers and wildflowers, a walk through the pumpkin patch, and u-pick flowers with a local florist on hand to help arrange them into something you’ll actually want to take home. Kids get crafts, a play area, and a scavenger hunt; bring nothing but yourself, since Sunflower & Swallow supplies the tools.
Point the truck toward Sexsmith next, where neighbouring farms have teamed up for the weekend. Good Food Farm raises chickens, pigs, and cattle on pasture and in the forest, and they’re running guided farm tours through the afternoon, followed by equipment tours for anyone curious about what actually moves the operation day to day. Closed-toe shoes are a good idea — there’s real walking through pasture and treeline. Starting at 6 p.m., they light the fire pit (or fire up the BBQ if the weather turns), and everyone’s invited to bring a picnic supper and something to roast. There’s a swing set and lawn games if you’ve got kids in tow, and coffee, lemonade, and water on hand at the tent.
Right next door, Y Knot Farm is running both Saturday and Sunday tours of their orchard, garden, sawmill, and beekeeping operation, plus live music and a beverage at Bigfoot Hotel once you’re done walking the property. A locally made farm lunch is available for purchase to keep your energy up, but as with all farms remember quantities may be limited. Bring your cooler for a small lineup of local vendors including Rooted Holistic (jam, salves, colloidal silver, whole wheat bread), Sage & Timber (baked goods, soaps, crocheted pieces), Essem Ceramics (handmade pottery), and Shana James Photography (mini sessions). Bring a lawn chair — it runs rain or shine, 10 to 5 both days — and leave pets at home.
Because Good Food Farm and Y Knot Farm sit close together, along with a third neighbouring operation, Out to Lunch Farmstead, this corner of Sexsmith is worth the whole afternoon on its own.
Where to stay: For a true Peace Country night, book ahead with Open Road Adventures, an Indigenous-owned mobile glamping outfit that sets up fully furnished tents — bedding, ambient lighting, the works — anywhere within a 50 km radius of Grande Prairie. They handle delivery, setup, and takedown, so your “campsite” is ready before you arrive. If a roof and a hot breakfast sound better than canvas, A River Road Bed & Breakfast, just south of the city on Highway 40, has been Grande Prairie’s longest-running B&B for a reason — a quiet cabin stay with a home-cooked breakfast by the fireplace, walking trails through the pines, and horses grazing the pasture out back.
Day Two: Out to Saddle Hills County
The second day heads west and north into Saddle Hills County, where the farms get a little more spread out and the pastures start doing something more deliberate.
Burnt River Ranch, tucked into the county near Sexsmith and Spirit River, is a heritage-breed hog operation running a small-scale farrow-to-finish system — piglets born on-site and raised on pasture and forest in as close to a natural rhythm as you’ll find. Alongside the pigs, they keep beef and dairy cattle, pastured poultry and waterfowl, egg layers, and a few horses, all protected by Šarplaninac livestock guardian dogs that work in tandem with the predators in the area rather than against them. Their regenerative practices — rotational grazing, silvopasture, riparian protection — are built around one goal: nutrient-dense meat raised without sacrificing the soil underneath it. Guided tours run mid-day; wear closed-toe shoes, use the boot wash on arrival for biosecurity, and leave dogs at home — the guardian dogs won’t take kindly to strange ones on the property.
From Burnt River Ranch, make your way to The Farm on Dead Horse Flats & Peace River Petals, run by Mike and Shi, first-generation farmers who moved from the West Coast in 2022 and settled between Dawson Creek and Spirit River. Leaning hard into this year’s Rangelands and Pastoralists theme, they replanted their pasture in 2025 with twenty varieties of grasses and legumes and partnered with ALUS to restore local habitat and bring back wildlife diversity — work that’s already showing up in more pollinators and a visibly healthier pastureland. The farm raises cattle, pigs, and chickens using low-till, pesticide-free methods, alongside a flower farm, market garden, and u-pick.
Guided farm tours run at 12, 2, and 4 p.m. (self-led maps are available too), and this is the first year they’re AMP grazing their cattle — moving them through small temporary paddocks daily to mimic the way bison once grazed the prairie. Say hello to the cows, a pig named George, the chickens and their rooster, and the newest addition: beehives. There’s vintage machinery still in working order, including a Deutz tractor pulled from a field after twenty years of retirement and two 1950s Chevy grain trucks — see if you can spot the horse-drawn manure spreader while you’re at it. The flower garden and u-pick are free to wander (bring a picnic blanket), with u-pick pricing at $15 for a regular mason jar or $25 for a large one. The Moose Crossing out of Rycroft will be on-site slinging cheeseburgers off the BBQ, all sourced from within 100 km of the farm.
The Farm on Dead Horse Flats is also hosting a Long Table Supper & Country Dance August 15th — worth checking out if you want to burn the candle at the other end- a visit that takes you into the evening with a hearty roast beef, pulled pork and baked potato dinner accompanied by a glass of Stolen Harvest mead. The night is rounded up with show stopping country tunes by Trin James & Christina Roger’s Trin will bring so bring your dancing boots! Festivities run 6:00-10:00
Where to stay: We are helping you find some of the off the beaten path options as you explore the North. Demmitt Campground, just off Highway 43 near the Alberta–B.C. border, is a no-frills, well-shaded option open seasonally through mid-October — 15 treed sites, fire pits, free delivered firewood, no hookups needed. For something with more amenities and a lake view, loop back toward Kleskun Hill Campground, 30 km northeast of Grande Prairie, where you can walk the province’s northernmost badlands, spot native cactus and wildlife, and take in the pioneer history at the Kleskun Hill Museum. Saskatoon Island Provincial Park, just west of the city between Saskatoon and Little Saskatoon Lakes, is the pick if you want water — powered sites, more than 14 km of trails, canoeing, and a resident population of trumpeter swans that make an early morning paddle worth setting an alarm for.
Round It Out in Grande Prairie
Before you head home, save an hour or two for downtown. Latitude 55 Distillery & Lounge, housed in the restored Old Firehall, runs guided tastings, distillery tours, and a craft-your-own-gin experience found nowhere else in the region. Grain Bin Brewing Company, Grande Prairie’s independent craft brewery since 2016, pours flights and growler fills in a taproom built around local collaboration. If wine’s more your speed, Broken Tine Orchard near Beaverlodge — four generations of Peace Country farming turned into haskap wine — opens for u-pick and tastings through July, or try Joosed Moose Winery‘s Saskatoon berry and fruit wines closer to town. Cap it off with a stop at The Blue Building, where Grain Bin shares space with local art, food, and events, or catch the Grande Prairie Farmers’ Market, running Fridays 4–7 and Saturdays 10–3.
Visit these farms and more during Alberta Open Farm Days, August 15–16, 2026. Admission to the event is free; some on-farm activities may have a cost. Find all participating farms and plan your route at albertaopenfarmdays.ca.