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Tomato plants stretching up to 12 metres are giving visitors a different view of Saskatchewan agriculture this weekend.
Seven Meadows Farm near Regina Beach is one of 37 locations participating in Saskatchewan Open Farm Days, a two-day event designed to connect consumers with the people who grow and produce their food.
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The participating locations include grain and dairy farms, greenhouses, agricultural research facilities, historic sites and food and beverage businesses.
“We have partnered with 37 host locations across the province to open their doors and to share their story and to connect people with what they do on the farm or what they make in their businesses that’s related to agriculture,” said Ashley Stone, the Saskatchewan Open Farm Days coordinator with Farm & Food Care Saskatchewan.
Now in its third year, the event runs through Sunday. Stone said the goal is to help people better understand the agriculture they see around them and the work happening behind the scenes.
“We’ve heard feedback in previous years the resounding conversation is around better understanding where their food comes from, better understanding the fields that they drive by, what they’re driving past and what they’re seeing producers do in the field,” Stone said.
She said the event also introduces visitors to the families behind Saskatchewan agriculture and the different ways food is grown and produced across the province.
“It really shows the diversity and the unique stories and people behind it, which gets me quite excited,” Stone said. “It’s really interesting to see how people approach growing food and what they grow and why they grow it.”
Rows of hydroponically grown tomato plants fill the Seven Meadows Farm greenhouse near Regina Beach. The farm opened its doors to visitors during Saskatchewan Open Farm Days on Aug. 8, 2026. (Jacob Bamhour/980 CJME)
That diversity is on display at Seven Meadows Farm, where Ward Hepting owns and operates a greenhouse alongside his wife and two of their sons.
The family grows tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers hydroponically using a high-wire system. The plants are grown without soil, while biological controls are used to protect them from potential pests.
“We open up the doors to our greenhouse and allow people to see what we’re doing here,” Hepting said.
“They get an exposure to something that they probably wouldn’t normally expect to see in Saskatchewan.”
Work on the year’s crop begins during the winter. The family propagates its own plants beginning in late December or early January before moving them into the greenhouse around March.
By the middle of April, Hepting said, the farm is typically producing fresh vegetables for farmers’ markets, restaurants and some local grocery stores.
“It allows us the opportunity to get a vine-ripened, locally grown product directly to the customers in the area in a variety of different ways,” he said.
Open Farm Days allows those customers to see the source of that produce and learn how it is grown.
“I think most people, when they walk in here and they see tomato plants that are 30 feet, 40 feet long, are pretty amazed and wowed by what it actually looks like,” Hepting said.
The greenhouse itself also has a history.
Hepting said it previously operated between Birch Hills and Prince Albert for about 25 years. When its former owners retired, the Hepting family bought the structure, dismantled it over two weekends and moved it to the Regina Beach area.
“We took a lot of pictures to remember how to put it all back together,” he said.
The family then spent several months rebuilding the greenhouse on its current property.
Seven Meadows has participated in Open Farm Days since the event began in 2024. Hepting said opening the property is rewarding because it allows producers to create a direct connection with visitors.
He recalled an older woman who once entered the greenhouse and immediately began to cry as the surroundings brought back memories for her.
“There’s a connection, I think, that happens for people,” Hepting said.
“That’s a really sincere, authentic connection to, ‘Hey, this is where food comes from. This is what it looks like,’ and just a real appreciation for that.”
Stone said host locations have also responded positively to the event because it gives producers a chance to speak with people beyond their usual customers and neighbours.
“This is their passion, and they love what they do,” she said. “Being able to tell that to more people and a broader audience … opens and broadens the spectrum of folks that want to come in and are interested in what they’re doing.”
The locations participating this year include the Motherwell Homestead, the Val Marie Heritage Elevator, Western Development Museums in Saskatoon and Moose Jaw, the University of Saskatchewan’s Rayner Dairy Research and Teaching Facility, and a sunflower farm near Lloydminster.
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