A Few More Yacon and Agritourism Tidbits, and an Unexpected Twist [Opinion]
June 23, 2021 
Barbara Cocoli found yacon for sale at the Montclair Farmers Market in Essex County, N.J. Photo by Barbara Cocoli.
Allow me to offer some updates to a few of my past columns. In fact, this article could have been titled “Errata and Addenda” because of these corrections and additions. Had I shared that first column as promised with my colleague, Pete Nitzsche, I wouldn’t have to eat some of my ‘yacon’ words.
Yacon Does Appeal to Consumers. With the Right Timing.
Original Column: Look Before Jumping into a New Vegetable Crop
While growers have found there is no ethnic market for yacon (even some Peruvians say they had never heard of it), “foodies seem willing to try it,” according to Pete Nitzsche. The struggle is how to use it so has been working with a chef on some recipes. Many are reluctant to try it. But once they do, they say, “Hey, this is pretty good.” So he suggests offering samples.
Pete also emphasized that some growers who tried growing yacon didn’t seem to hear him say, “You need a winter market.”
Yacon is ready to eat after harvest and a short storage. But it’s a late harvest — at Thanksgiving. So, if you’ve closed your market by then, it is not a crop for you.
On the other hand, someone must be learning about yacon, as I ran across it listed in a nursery catalog that arrived in my mail.
Another Agritourism Idea
Original Column: Here Are Some New Ideas to Help Agritourism Grow
To add to the options for agritourism farm stays I mentioned in my column on the topic, fellow American Vegetable Grower contributor Rick Snyder responded to my March column with, “Here’s another one – Harvest Hosts.”
Rick shared that he recently got into RV’ing, and this company contracts with farms to allow RV campers to spend a night for free. No hookups, and in most cases, you can’t stay more than one night.
But he notes, “Free? Yes, but there’s an expectation that you’ll buy some bottles of wine or produce while there,” and “Not a bad option for stopping overnight en route to the destination where you’ll spend some time.”
He originally stated he was still thinking about joining, but when I noticed (more than once) RVs parked at the winery that I pass on my daily commute, I had to ask Rick if he ended up becoming a member. He did and sent a screenshot of New Jersey farms using Harvest Hosts.
Sure enough. Balić Winery was on the list. So was Bellview Winery a few miles in the other direction, as well as Unexpected Farm.
Unexpected Farm? I knew there was an Unexpected Road a little way from Bellview Winery, but I never knew where that road led or that there was a farm there.
When you dive down a rabbit hole, you never know what you might find. A a search online for “Unexpected Farm, NJ” offered a couple of other suggestions for agritourism operators. Of course you get their website, Facebook, and Instagram pages, and a few news articles.
But do you know about Hulafrog.com – Local things for kids to do…?
Checking their Hulafrog listing revealed a national search website similar to Harvest Hosts, but devoted to posting local attractions and activities for youngsters, and their anxious parents looking for places to take them. Camps and cookouts, activities and destinations all within your community.
If you haven’t already, list your farm market/agritourism events to target a whole new set of future customers.
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