U-Pick Tour–Rainbow Farms, Madison Ohio–tomatoes

Adventures with Nick and Sally, U-Pick, Uncategorized No Responses »
Aug 192011
 

Yesterday, we went tomato picking.  We went back to Rainbow Farms since they were the first ones in the area to open u-pick tomatoes for the 2011 season.  We last visited Rainbow Farms for blackberry picking. Other farms will have tomatoes soon, they are just waiting for more ripening.

We met our friends for picking and it works out well.  One of us stays outside with the kids and the other goes into the market.  That makes for a lot less unloading and reloading of children since we have 5 between us.  For tomatoes, you stop by the shed for 1/2 bushel sized baskets and head to the field.

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Since our last visit, everything had great signs.  It was so easy to find.  For future reference, there is a bathroom with running water in this barn.  That turned out to be a good thing for us.

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Seems that Nick and Sally liked the dirt more than tomatoes.

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At some point, Sally was eating the dirt – yuck!  She also ate a tomato or two.

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The tomatoes at Rainbow are field grown on the ground.  It was picked over, but we managed to pick quite a few tomatoes.  I ended up with 2 of the 1/2 bushel baskets – so 1 bushel of tomatoes.

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You leave the baskets and transfer the tomatoes to containers that you bring from home or misc. boxes that can be found at the shed.  Since we had just picked peaches on Saturday, I had great boxes to use for bringing home my tomatoes.

Each 1/2 bushel was $9.  So, I paid $18 for the tomatoes.  I’m currently simmering some tomato sauce in the crockpot.  I’m going to can all of them, but I am unsure if it will be crushed tomatoes, sauce, paste or a combo.  This is my first time with tomatoes, so I’m still in the intimidated stage.  It won’t take long to figure out my process.

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We’ll probably try out another farm or two for tomatoes while they are still in season.  Hmmm… I think I need to buy more canning jars, lids and rings.  It’s not even apple season yet!

Cool Globes

Adventures with Nick and Sally 1 Response »
Aug 172011
 

Through September 11th, there is an interesting exhibit called Cool Globes: Hot Ideas for a Cooler Planet happening at the Greenspace on Wade Oval.  We travel to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and Cleveland Botanical Gardens frequently and we have enjoyed seeing the different globes.  There are 18 in total and a few of them are pictured below.  If you get a chance to take a walk around Wade Oval, it’s worth looking at the globes.  There’s no admission charge.

Mother Earth Rain Garden
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New Orleans: Toward a New Paradigm Spin Dry: Drawing a Line on Global Warming
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Tall Grass Share a Ride Tree of Life
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Recycled Evolution Spread the Word
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Plant It! Green Roofs Save Energy
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Non-Electric Play A Plant-Based Diet
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Summer Party

Adventures with Nick and Sally No Responses »
Aug 142011
 

Yesterday, we went to Uniontown for Chuck and Sherry’s Summer Bash.  It was a great event complete with grilling, watermelon, great company and a bounce house.  Sherry and I have been friends for more than 20 years and even though we don’t see each other often, we never have any trouble picking up where we left off.

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I’m not sure how many people were at the party, but Nick and Sally definitely enjoyed the Bounce House with all of the other kids.  Sally also spent some time playing corn hole.

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Sometimes, Sally and Nick needed a break from the action.  They enjoyed this swing.

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Even though storms were in the forecast, we had a beautiful night for an outside party.  We can’t wait for next year!

 Posted by at 9:06 PM  Tagged with:

U-Pick Tour–Patterson Fruit Farm, Chesterland Ohio–Peaches!

Adventures with Nick and Sally, U-Pick 1 Response »
Aug 132011
 

Today, we went back to Patterson Fruit Farm.  Our last trip there was on June 23rd when we picked strawberries for the last time of the 2011 season.  Today’s trip was all about peaches!  Peaches are one of my favorite fruits to eat with my oatmeal.  I could eat them almost everyday.  I have blueberries in the freezer for the other days.

The peach picking is new at Pattersons.  I believe this is the second year.  They only have peach picking for 2 weekends.  So, that’s 4 days of picking.  They are open from 9 AM – 5 PM, but it’s more realistic to say they are open from 9 AM until they are picked out for the day.  The peach picking is at 8765 Mulberry Road.  Pattersons also has a market on Caves Road.  Once you arrive, it’s a simple drive to the peaches by following the arrows.  You park right in front of the peach trees.  There’s not too much walking involved.  We did bring the stroller and we were glad to have it so we could carry the peaches.

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We approached the tent and were greeted by a nice gentleman working and this sign.  A 1/2 bushel of peaches is $25 and holds approximately 27 pounds.  You buy the container of choice and head to fill it up.  It was easy.  The trees were full of peaches.  We were instructed to pick only the ones that were “big and plump”.  We walked to the end of the rows of peaches where it wasn’t crowded and didn’t have any trouble filling up our container.

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Stephen joined us today, which also made the picking go faster.

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Nick and Sally picked a couple of peaches.  Of course, they had to try them out.

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While Stephen was busy picking, they were busy eating them.  Sally could live off fruit.

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We ran into some friends and were able to get a group shot.  It’s always fun to get a photo of the 4 of us.  That doesn’t happen often enough.

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We ended up picking 2 half-bushels of peaches.  We didn’t weigh them, but it’s approximately 54 pounds of peaches for $50.  These containers are cardboard boxes that are approximately 8 inches tall.  I was going to spend the morning canning the peaches, but I don’t think they are quite soft enough for the skins to come off easily when I boil them, so I will probably be canning on Monday and Tuesday.  I’m hoping to can slices, jam, sauce and peach honey.

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 Posted by at 9:44 PM  Tagged with:

Take Time to Stop and Smell the Weeds!

Adventures with Nick and Sally 2 Responses »
Aug 122011
 

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When I was pregnant with Nick, my mother in law gave me this vase as part of my shower gift.  You can’t really tell from the photo, but it’s about 4 inches tall and designed specifically for holding small flowers like dandelions that a small child might pick for their mom.  Yesterday, when we were walking home from the park, Nick picked some “flowers” for me.  I knew just what to do with them.  This vase is now on my window sill by the kitchen window.  It makes me smile every time I look at it.  It was one of the most perfect baby shower gifts ever, even though it took 3+ years before it was used.

 Posted by at 1:36 PM  Tagged with:

U-Pick Tour–Rainbow Farms, Madison Ohio–blackberries

Adventures with Nick and Sally, U-Pick No Responses »
Aug 102011
 

Yesterday, we traveled back to Rainbow Farms.  Last time we were there, we picked currants, but this time it was for blackberries.

It rained off and on during our 45 minute trip to Madison, but we were greeted with blue skies when we arrived.  We were told that they were pretty picked over from Monday, but Tina let us go out and see what we could find.  We had met our friends there.  It’s always nice to have an extra adult around and it’s also nice when we are the only ones picking.  We don’t have to worry so much about the kids getting in the way of other pickers.

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This photo of Sally says it all!

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We ended up picking 5 pounds of blackberries.  I thought that was pretty good considering that they were pretty picked out when we started.  They are $3.25 a pound and I ended up paying $14.90.  The math is slightly off due to my container credit.  If you bring your own containers, they weigh them and don’t charge you for that part.  If you use their containers, you end up paying $3.25 a pound for them.  We picked up another dozen corn while we were there ($5).

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I was intrigued by the melons.  We bought one passport melon for $2.50 and 2 personal size orange melons ($3 for the two).  The passport one is a cross between a honeydew and a cantaloupe.  We haven’t tried the orange melon yet.  So, I ended up spending $25.40 total.

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We’re looking forward to returning next week for peppers and tomatoes.

Hale Farm and Village

Adventures with Nick and Sally No Responses »
Aug 062011
 

Today, we headed to Hale Farm and Village.  We had purchased a Western Reserve Historical Society membership when they had a Groupon back in February.  I knew we wanted to go to Hale Farm at least once and the membership also gets us into the museum at Wade Oval.

We had a group of 7 since Stephen’s brother and parents are in town.  Since they have a seven passenger van, we traveled together.  That worked out well.

Here’s the entrance to the complex and the admissions building.

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We visited the Broom Squire first.  We watched the man make a broom.  He started out by giving Nick and Sally each a broom to sweep with.  It was nice that they had a toy.

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Nick is enjoying maps of late.  He’s very inquisitive about where we are going.  We also visited the potter (who also was filling in as the glass blower today.)

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Sally and Nick both enjoyed a break at a rocking chair in one of the buildings.

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Here’s the glass blower in action and the brick layer mixing the materials with his feet!

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Around noon, everyone was getting hungry, so we enjoyed a picnic before heading home for nap time.  I’m sure that Stephen, the kids and I will be back again this year.

Lyndhurst’s Brainard Road Splash Park

Adventures with Nick and Sally No Responses »
Aug 042011
 

Today, we met friends at the new Splash Park in Lyndhurst.  It’s located on Brainard Road near just west of 271.  I had heard from our friends that it was $3 for residents and $4 for non-residents.  I was pleasantly surprised that I was only charged $4.  It turns out that kids 3 and under are free with a paying adult.  So, for the rest of this season, I can take Nick and Sally for $4 total each time!  They are open 10 AM – 7 PM Monday through Saturday and 10 AM – 6 PM on Sunday.  Due to some construction delays, it didn’t open until July 10th, so it’s brand new!  There’s a small concession stand which we did not visit, but you are also allowed to bring food in and enjoy in designated areas.

We arrived just a few minutes after they opened and Nick and Sally were excited.  Nick immediately got wet and it took Sally a few minutes to warm up to the water.  It was warm and cloudy which was perfect weather.  The sun peeked out a few times too.

Here are a couple of wide shots so you can get the idea of what it’s like.

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Nick really liked the slides.  He had a little trouble following the feet first rule, but after a time out, that was much better.  He also spent lots of time running around.

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Sally walked up the stairs (and back down) 4 times before she let me hold her hand to sit down and use the slide.  She needed my hand another 4 times before she started going down by herself.  After the first solo trip, she went down many more times.  Eventually, she moved to the bigger green slide.  Both of the slides have water going down them.  It’s enough to make it slippery, but not too much.  Eventually, she was soaked and exhausted.

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Sally sat with me for a few minutes and then Nick came up and told me he was ready to go home.  I’m hope that leaving will be that easy every time!  Both kids took 4 hour naps today.  Water play is great for wearing them out.

Adventures in the Kitchen with Nick and Sally

Adventures with Nick and Sally No Responses »
Jul 292011
 

“You’re not managing an interruption, you’re raising a human being.”  I read this quote on another blog this week.  I’m not even sure where I saw it.

I’ve been reading about raising healthy kids and that having them help in the kitchen is one of the keys to healthy eating.  In addition to farm visits, U-Pick and our CSA, helping in the kitchen is our next logical step.

We’ve made peanut butter and occasionally, Nick and Sally will help dump ingredients in a bowl or push the button on the blender.  But, they are starting to get old enough to do more.

A couple of weeks ago, I had them start using the salad spinner.  I rinse the greens and get it ready and Nick and Sally both take 3 or 4 turns of 5 pushes as the greens spin.  It helps them learn to count and take turns in addition to helping me prepare the greens.  It gives us an opportunity to talk about cleaning veggies and getting salad ready.

Earlier in the week, they added all of the ingredients for our blueberry banana smoothies to the blender.  It was a slow process as the blueberries went in  3 or 4 at a time, but they were making the smoothies and loving it.

Yesterday, we received sweet corn on the cob in our CSA.  CSA day always makes dinner time a bit hectic since we usually get home about the same time I should be making dinner.  With fresh corn, I thought we should definitely enjoy it along with the roast that I had cooking in the crockpot.

As I began to clean the corn, Nick came in the kitchen and wanted to help.  I felt interrupted and really wanted him to go back into the living room and leave me alone so I could finish dinner.  Then, I began thinking about the quote and my desire to have them learn about healthy cooking.  So, I looked around and tried to think of something they could do without the hot stove or a knife.  At this point, Sally had joined Nick.  She doesn’t like to be left out.

Then, I thought – maybe they could shuck the corn!?  We’ll try it.

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Intense concentration ensued.  We talked about taking the outer greens off first and getting all of the strings off so we could cook it.  Even Sally could do it.  I will say that it took FOREVER, but it was totally worth it.  Both of them were so proud of the corn as we ate it for dinner.

 Posted by at 9:03 PM

U-Pick Wintergreen Tree Farm–Mantua (take 4)–more blueberries!

Adventures with Nick and Sally, U-Pick No Responses »
Jul 272011
 

Yesterday, we returned to Wintergreen Tree Farm for the 4th and probably final time for blueberries this season.  Even though my freezers are bursting with blueberries, I can’t seem to get enough of them.

We ended up staying there for 3 hours.  This was the longest that the kids had lasted for picking anything all year.

They started out playing on the blanket (after eating a few blueberries).

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After they got bored with the blanket, they walked around, picked a few berries and hung out.  For a few minutes, I thought I was going to get tired before them.  I knew I had picked a lot of berries when I needed to use one of their buckets for the rest of the berries.  The picking was pretty good, but a good picking day is a mix of weather, farm, cost, drive, amount of fruit available, temperament of the kids, etc.  Yesterday was definitely one of the best days yet!

Back at the shed, we talked to Julie for a few minutes.  Sometimes, she balances these wooden sticks while she is working at the shed.  She let Nick and Sally play with them.  I was glad they didn’t hit each other, but we had a couple of close calls.

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Julie took a picture of us together.  It’s nice to remember to get group photos.

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We ended up with 12.6 pounds of blueberries for $18.95 ($1.50 per pound).  It was the most we had picked in one day all season.  We’ve had blueberries, blueberry muffins, blueberry pancakes, and blueberry oatmeal.  I’m glad that we’ll have some in the freezer to enjoy for a few months.

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Blueberry season is winding down.  We ended up picking 7 times at 4 different farms.  We kept going back to Wintergreen and are already excited to see what chestnuts are all about later in the year.  Meanwhile, blackberries are next and should be ready for picking next week.

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