In Buffalo’s food scene, the “buy local” movement fits hand-in-hand with the “farm-to-table” initiative. In growing number, chefs throughout the city not only source local ingredients in their restaurants—some through distributors like Guercio’s, others through family-owned farms—but the area’s leading culinary minds have started to create and treasure relationships with local food producers.

If all this sounds a little fuzzy to you, experience the farm-to-table movement first-hand through Feed Your Soul’s annual Foodie-to-Farm Tour on Sept. 9. Tickets for the Foodie-to-Farm Tour run for $140 before fees, but includes considering transportation, two exceptional meals, interaction with farmers and infinitely useful knowledge. Limited tickets are still available, however, as half were purchased in the first day.

The day-long trip begins from a central location in Buffalo, where participants will gather before busing just over an hour south to Chautauqua County to visit a few small farms. A farm-inspired lunch will be created at Green Heron Growers by renowned local chef and charcuterie phenom Bruce Wieszala from Carmelo’s Ristorante in Lewiston.

After lunch, the bus will move to Ashville and Westfield for more farm stops, and then the tour finishes at the Chautauqua Institution for a multi-course meal from Athenaeum Hotel head chef Ross Warhol. Along with sous chef Alex Gray, Warhol finished as a semifinalist in the Iron Chef Competition at the Hot & Spicy Food Festival in Toronto July 20 through 22. He represented the entire United States in the competition, falling only a point short of the eventual champion.

The stops include Lapp Farm Dairy, Good Grass Farm and Johnson Estate Winery in addition to Green Heron Growers.

Back in February, Feed Your Soul and founder Christa Glennie Seychew—who doubles as the founder of Buffalo’s Iron Chef competition, Nickel City Chef—hosted A Big Fuss, a fundraising event to help a struggling local farm. At that event, Wieszala, Warhol and several other local chefs and farmers discussed their collaborative efforts and produced locally-inspired dishes that I gleefully consumed.