By DOUG GRAVES
Ohio Correspondent

ALEXANDRIA, Ky. — Campbell County in northern Kentucky was once a hotbed of rural activity. The proximity of this county to downtown Cincinnati, Ohio, has come to mean one thing, though: Massive development of this once pristine land.

“They need more of these kinds of events,” said Cindy Sweeney of Florence, Ky. “City folk would gain a better appreciation of the rural community if they just made two or three stops on this tour.”
Sweeney, her two children and two nephews made six stops on the Campbell County Backwoods Tour, a one-day excursion held two weekends ago for residents of the county to discover agriculture’s impact locally. “It just gives people a feel for what goes on in the rural community,” she said.

“Campbell County has its rural parts and most people don’t know it.”

Off that perception, members of the Campbell County Farmland Work Group staged the one-day, self-guided, 15-stop tour with the goal of raising public awareness about the many contributions agriculture makes to the daily lives of folks in this county. Attendance at this event was considered by officials as “heavy.”
The farm of Allan and Melinda Seiter is one of the many success stories of this tour. Allen started farming by sharecropping tobacco when he was a freshman in high school. He purchased his original farm of 98 acres when he was just 19.

Today, he and his family own 450 acres where they tend to corn, soybeans, wheat, alfalfa and tobacco. Another 300 acres is rented.

“I chose to farm because I enjoy the independence that comes with it,” he said. “This beats working in the city, though I oftentimes work 12-hour days to keep up with the farm.”
With the use of a grinder and other grain equipment, Seiter is able to bag and clean his own cracked corn to sell to local farmers and local feed stores for cattle or other livestock feed.

The tour started at Camp Springs Vineyard. The first grapes of this family-owned vineyard were planted in 2005. Vidal blanc and Cabernet franc vines dot the acreage. This stop offered a tasting room and an open loft available for functions.

Stop number two was Neltner’s Farm, also in Camp Springs. This farm specializes in hydroponic tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, melons, beans, berries, squash, pumpkins, apples, peaches, blackberries and corn.

Little Rock Farm of Camp Springs was the third stop. This farm, which has been around since 1938, is on 65 acres. Beef cattle and an assortment of homemade jams and jellies from the fruit and berry trees enticed many visitors.

The tour then took visitors to StoneBrook Winery in Melbourne. What started out as a blacksmith shop in 1871 eventually changed over the next 140 years. Pigs, truck crops and blacksmith duties were dominant until the harsh economic times of the 1920s. From that point, a dairy farm it was and in the 1950s beef cattle roamed. The vineyards took over in 2000 in order to sustain the farm.

The 12-acre Greensleeves Farm in Alexandria taught visitors the meaning of permaculture, Certified Naturally Grown and Community Supported Agriculture. After a visit to Bryan Vineyards in Grant’s Lick on stop six, a visit to the Campbell County Log Cabin Museum held relics to the past, including horse-drawn equipment, antique tractors, windmills, farm tools and broom-making.

From there visitors moved on to Lazy K Ranch in California, Ky., for the first of seven stops in this rural village. This 81-acre, 17-horse stable specializes in Rocky Mountain horses. Also in California were Seven Wells Vineyard & Winery and Martin’s Family Farm. The latter stop is home to Polled Herefords.

Bezold’s Beef Farm has been in existence for 100 years; it specializes in freezer beef. The Beezy Bee farm of Arnold and Elsa Bezold was a favorite stop for kids. The final two stops in this tour were Clearview Ridge Farm (chickens, goats, horses) and Flagg Spring Ranch (feeder calves).