Oscar Clough, of Bones Coffee, discusses his coffee roasting method during ECHO's Global Food & Farm Festival on Saturday at the farm on Durrance Road. CHUCK BALLARO

Thousands of attendees got to shop for and taste some of the most amazing foods as the annual ECHO Global Food & Farm Fest kicked off Saturday.

Usually, Saturday’s open Farm Day is the climax of the festival. This year, in a change of pace, it was used to kick things off, followed by four days of seminars, workshops and a tropical lunch with food grown on the 57-acre farm in North Fort Myers.

Visitors got to tour the experimental and teaching farm, attend workshops and cooking demonstrations, make homemade peanut butter, sip freshly squeezed orange juice and sugar cane and much more.

Danielle Flood, assistant director of advancement, said the idea of the festival is to introduce people to what ECHO does.

“It’s exciting to offer these educational opportunities to people who haven’t seen where our rice grows or where their food comes from,” Flood said. “You can learn about composting and moringa, the goats and the chickens and enjoy the beauty around us.”

Medea Galligan gives a demonstration on fermentation during ECHO's Global Food & Farm Festival on Saturday at the farm on Durrance Road. CHUCK BALLARO

People were arriving at the farm around the 9 a.m. starting time, many of whom went to the pavilion to learn about coffee and how we get it from the plant to our morning cup.

Raul Cotto, founder of Bones Coffee out of Cape Coral, said people have a natural attraction to coffee, as many people drink it as a morning ritual.

“You wake up and drink your cup of coffee, and you can’t start your day until you have that first sip,” Cotto said. “Or two cups in some cases.”

Of course, in some parts of the world where there are no modern facilities, farmers there must improvise. Krista Anderson and others taught visitors how these farmers create not only propane with which to cook, but also make fertilizer at the same time to help grow crops.

There were also vendors who came to sell their wares and talk about what they do. Elizabeth Rose, environmental education teacher for Lee County schools, said many of their schools have started gardens to help make them more self-sustaining.

Caleb Lightner grinds some peanuts to make peanut butter during ECHO's Global Food & Farm Festival on Saturday at the farm on Durrance Road. CHUCK BALLARO

“We meet supply-and-demand needs at the school cafeteria. When they order produce, they only get a quarter of what they need to feed the students for an entire week,” Rose said. “We put the produce in the cafeteria to meet those needs. Our students grow everything from seed to harvest.”

The ECHO farm was started in 1981 with 5 acres bought by Dr. Martin Price, his wife, Bonnie, and a few friends. Through trial and error, they learned how to grow certain crops while also going to other regions in the world to help struggling countries meet their food and water needs.

Bonnie Price is thrilled to see what ECHO has become.

“Farm Day has been an important part of our community. It’s kind of been a joke that it’s the best kept secret in the county,” Bonnie said. “It’s amazing how so many people don’t know who we are.”

Most farmers around the world know. ECHO’s website gets tens of thousands of hits from more than 170 countries worldwide.

Ute Eggar squeezes sugar cane during ECHO's Global Food & Farm Festival on Saturday at the farm on Durrance Road. CHUCK BALLARO

ECHO is no secret to Celeste Bogojevich, who also came last year. She is impressed by the work ECHO does worldwide and has learned a lot from Farm Fest.

“There’s a sense of community knowing there are people interested in growing their own food. We all need to grow our own food and take it seriously,” Bogojevich said.

The festival continues Tuesday through Friday.

For more information about the festival and a complete schedule of seminars and workshops, visit echonet.org.

The 57-acre ECHO Farm is at 17391 Durrance Road.

Monique Cote, left, and Pat Grube offer some coleslaw and dessert samples during ECHO's Global Food & Farm Festival on Saturday at the farm on Durrance Road. CHUCK BALLARO