St. Charles' Primrose Farm opens on Sunday

Have you ever wondered where your food comes from?

A working dairy farm opening Sunday in St. Charles will give visitors a chance to explore Kane County's agricultural history.

After nearly a decade of fundraising and extensive physical restoration, Primrose Farm is now ready for the public, farm manager Kirk Bunke said.

"People have been using the three-mile nature trail since before it was finished last summer, so we have already seen that the public is very interested," Bunke said.

The farm has been restored to its 1930s heyday, the peak of Primrose Farm's modernization. Crop yields grew during the 1930s due to the farm's increased use of chemicals like herbicides and pesticides, as well as the advent of machinery such as motorized tractors. After the 1930s, the farm began to fall behind the times and into disrepair.

Since the restoration was completed, the farm now grows several different crops, including corn, oats, and small grains. Those crops will not be sold at market, but will instead be used to feed the animals, Bunke said.

Primrose is a diversified dairy farm stocked with four cows, as well as dozens of chickens, nine sheep and three draft horses.

This summer, the St. Charles Park District will offer a variety of farming classes and workshops on everything from learning how to milk dairy cows to blacksmithing.

The park district bought the farm (no pun intended) from the families and developers that owned three parcels of land through a number of land swaps and purchases, and consolidated them into a single 220-acre farm. One of the families had owned its land for over 70 years and sold it to the park district so it could be kept as a farm instead of being developed for commercial use.

Primrose Farm is meant to function as a nontraditional way to maintain open space while also cleaning the groundwater. Through a process known as groundwater recharge, water on the surface like rain or snow seeps into the ground and is naturally filtered and eventually surfaces once again as clean spring water.

"This is a way to reconnect people with the place most of their food comes from," Bunke said.

The grand opening is not the first time the farm has welcomed the public. In the past, the farm has held fundraisers that attracted about 2,000 people each, and event organizers expect crowd sizes on Sunday to reach that level.

There will be a number of activities Sunday, including hayrides, 1930s-era farm equipment demonstrations, and tours, all free to the public.

Events will last from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. For details, visit the St. Charles Park District's Web site at www.st-charlesparks.org or call the farm at (630) 513-4370.