Today was fun! We had friends in town from Minnesota and we met up with them at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. It was the first time that Ging met my daughter and I hadn’t seen her or her kids in a couple of years. She’s one of my 3 decade friends. I’ve been blessed by having great long time friends in my life. We can just pick up where we left off and always have a great time. We enjoyed the museum and then had a picnic near the dinosaur. The weather was great and so was the company.
We had a busy weekend in addition to our visit to the Farmers’ Market and the Greenfield Berry Farm.
On Saturday, while we were still in the Peninsula area, we picked up our Wee Hoo I-Go bicycle trailer at Century Cycles. We ended up riding 4 miles on Saturday as a family. Stephen took Sally in the Burley trailer and Nick and I rode the I-Go. Nick and I also rode on Monday while Stephen and Sally ran (with Sally in the stroller). We did about 6 miles. This evening we rode about 3 miles while they ran. So far, Nick and I really like riding together. It’s kind of like riding a tandem.
Stephen and Nick camped in the backyard one night.
The kids and I made it to the JCC for my workout on Sunday. I did a 10 minute warm up on the elliptical and then completed the exercises (minus core) that I did with Chelsea on Wednesday. It wasn’t a long workout, but it felt empowering to do free weight exercises on my own.
Monday, we spent the evening at Blossom Music Center. My parents joined us for a picnic, concert and fireworks. The kids were not fans of the fireworks, but the rest of the evening was great!
The Blossom Festival is always a great series of concerts. We enjoyed the Blossom Festival Band last night. Although we usually sit on the lawn, we took Nick down to look at the stage area.
We entertained the kids in the garden for a bit. While we were gone, the lawn was filling up.
Here’s Nick and Sally with Grandma. And, here’s Sally with a nice smile.
It was a jam-packed weekend and we took today off. I spent most of the day reclaiming the kitchen. I was double booked for tomorrow. I guess I thought it would be Tuesday and it’s already going to be Wednesday. Enjoy the rest of your short week!
Gone biking and then to Blossom. No, we aren’t biking to Blossom.
Last night, the kids and I attended the first field night of the season. It was at the farm of Noah and Kathy Yutzy in Middlefield. We had been to this farm last year, and we were happy to return again.
It took about 50 minutes from our house in Mayfield Heights to get out to the farm. This included rush hour traffic through Mayfield and slowing down for the buggy traffic once we were in the Middlefield area. The kids loved the ride, especially seeing the horse and buggies.
We went on several visits last year, but this one had the most people of any that I had been to. I’m guessing that there were about 30 people there including kids, but I didn’t really think to count.
There was a GFF welcome sign a the end of the drive. This made the farm very easy to spot. Nick and Sally held hands as they walked to the barn where everyone was meeting. Noah led us on an informative tour and it was fabulous to see the farm in action.
We saw pigs and horses.
We also saw the greenhouse and lots of healthy crops.
This spiked wheel is a device for spacing the plants. It puts holes in the plastic at a certain distance so the crops are evenly spaced. This dog was the biggest hit with all of the kids.
There was also a ton of mud. I kept telling Nick that if he kept playing in it, he was going to fall and be covered in mud. At least he didn’t mind posing for photos. Mental note to self: bring extra clothes and shoes to the next field night.
Here’s Nick as cleaned up as possible. Sally chilled in the rocking chair. That was great until she flipped it backwards. Luckily, the chair and her were fine.
At the conclusion of the tour, Kathy had refreshments out for everyone to enjoy. There was also a table of items that people could buy. I purchased the items pictured below. I paid $9.75 total for 3 bunches of rhubarb ($6), 2 cousa squashes ($1) (a type of zucchini that is often served stuffed with meat and rice), and a loaf of fresh wheat bread ($2.75). I had never had rhubarb before, so I am excited to try it out in a few recipes. I was just looking for cousa squash this week since I ran across an article about it. We love stuffed winter squash and I had never thought about stuffing any summer squash. The bread is always delicious and my husband and kids really enjoy it when we have it in the house. (I no longer partake since it’s not 100% whole wheat, but I know from past experience that it’s quite tasty.) I wouldn’t usually buy extras on a Tuesday since we pick up on Tuesday and I hadn’t seen our share yet, but I was already on the lookout for 2 out of 3 of these items, so I splurged.
Even though Nick and Sally are usually in bed by 7:30 PM, it’s totally worth a late night out with them for the farm visit experiences. We can’t wait for July!
Today, we traveled to Patterson Fruit Farm. This was our 5th and final farm for strawberry picking this season. The season was too short to try all of the farms on our list, but hopefully we’ll be trying other farms for different crops throughout the summer. The season is winding down for all of the farms and we are taking next week off while we wait for the start of blueberries, sour cherries and raspberries. July will be BUSY! From our house in Mayfield Heights, the Mulberry Road location for Patterson Fruit Farm is about 20 minutes away. We saved the closest one for last. Patterson Fruit Farm also operates a market on Caves Road.
We met some friends at the farm. They live in South Euclid and if they call when they are leaving, and then we pack up and leave, we get to the farms east about the same time. Once again today, we parked right next to each other. That was awesome timing.
The U-Pick operation at Patterson’s is one of the bigger one for strawberries. I think it’s because they are very popular for apples and they are close to the city population compared to other farms. There is a whole staff of people working the U-Pick fields. The picking started at 8 AM, and we arrived about 8:30 AM. You stop at a little gate house building as you enter and someone gives you your baskets and a white information card. Then, you follow the arrows to the current picking field. It was not crowded and we parked very close to picking.
Here’s Sally and Nick enjoying the field, and the little field house where your strawberries are weighed when you complete your picking.
The weights of your berries for each container are recorded on your information card and you take it to the gate house near the entrance/exit to pay. Also, there was a pot-a-jon available near the field.
Here’s a view of the fields. They have at least 4 picking fields here. We ended up with 4.25 pounds of berries for $8.25. They are $1.60-$1.95 per pound depending on how many pounds you pick. The lowest price is for 25 pounds or more.
We left our house at 8:15 AM and we were home by 10 AM. That included a detour through the North Chagrin Reservation since Wilson Mills was blocked off with a police car on our way home.
Patterson Fruit Farm has a website and a couple of Facebook pages. They have U-PIck strawberries, apples and a minimal peach operation, so we’ll probably visit them again later in the year.
Strawberry Picking is located at 8765 Mulberry Road Chesterland, Ohio 44026. Their Farm Market is at 11414 Caves Road, Chesterland, Ohio 44026.
Today, the kids and I traveled to Secor Nursery in Perry Ohio. From our house in Mayfield Heights, it was about 40 minutes away. It took a bit longer due to the construction on route 2. The upside is that there were lots of diggers and other equipment to entertain Nick and Sally along the way. It’s about 4 miles further down than West Orchards Farm.
The U-Pick opened at 8 AM and we arrived just after 8 AM. We parked in front and went into the market to check in and get more information. We got our basket and directions and drove out to the strawberries.
It wasn’t a far drive and was well marked (to the field and back).
Sally was photogenic for a change. I think she’s really starting to like all of these farms.
She tried a couple of berries, but surprisingly, she isn’t a big fan of strawberries. Her brother Nick, on the other hand, loves them and calls this strawberry eating instead of strawberry picking. The scenery around the fields was breathtakingly beautiful, even with the Perry nuclear power plant in the background.
With picking this good, it was easy to come home with just over 5 pounds of berries. Grand total $11.67 which included a bulb of garlic that I picked up at the market for $1 when we checked out.
Secor Nursery doesn’t seem to have a website, but I recently found their Facebook page. You can call them for picking updates and they have an email list. I would not have tried this farm out due to the lack of easy information available, but my local Rite Aid manage suggested it. He and his wife do much of their picking there. With that recommendation, we headed out.
I’m so glad that we tried this farm. I think it is my favorite to date. The berries were $1.99 a pound and that’s in line with our other picking this season. The scenery was great, there was a port-a-jon available, and we had the picking to ourselves for the first half hour. I can’t wait for cherries, black and red raspberries and blueberries.
Nick turned 3 in February. So, he’s 40 months old now. Recently, his imagination has taken off.
He routinely makes dinner for me. His props are things like small Frisbees for plates, plastic forks from our kitchen, a pitcher, a stuffed egg (compliments of Eggland’s Best at Fit Bloggin’), various wooden flat vegetables and a few wooden spoons. With these few items and the mantle/wall of our living room, I can watch him make pizza, soup, pretzels and many other concoctions. He often will use a switch on the wall for a timer and his garden gloves as oven mitts. He also has several water faucets available. One day last week, he wouldn’t let me start making dinner because he was making it. So, I sat in the living room and played and we ate real food later that night.
A week or two ago, Nick created a couple of cats. He named them Suzie and Dredger. Then, he added mommy cat and daddy cat. Daddy cat has a sore nose and had to get it fixed, so we need to be careful with his nose. (This was surely a result of my husband’s nose surgery about 2 weeks ago.) He also has a dog named Marsha. Marsha comes everywhere with us. He ties her up to posts when we go shopping and never forgets to untie her so she can get back in the car. Just when I was getting used to the 5 animals, he named his stuffed dog Who. Now, I am tracking Who along with 5 imaginary animals. He takes us forever to get ready to go anywhere. I even had to put socks on Marsha yesterday. I have no idea where any of these names came from. I can’t even think of any shows that have used these names. It’s fun and exhausting.
Making up songs has really taken off lately also. My husband and I routinely will use the melody from a popular kids tune and make up our own words. Nick has started doing the same thing. It’s so awesome for him to be creative.
Sally is almost 19 months. Usually, she doesn’t understand what Nick is doing, but occasionally I catch her with a Mmmmm as she tries a pizza fresh out of the oven.
It’s never dull!
Today, the kids and I traveled to Boughton Farm in Akron, Ohio. From our house in Mayfield Heights, it’s about 45 minutes away. It’s also close to Earth Fare grocery store and a Great Harvest bakery. So, we were able to run errands after our picking.
The U-Pick at Broughton opened at 7 AM. We arrived about 9:15 AM. They have a barn set up for U-Pick information, containers, and pricing. Looks like you can also pick pre-picked items there as well.
Everything was well marked and it was easy to find.
Nick loved sitting on this bench. Inside the barn, a white board shows what’s available and the costs. We were happily surprised that peas were available for U-Pick. Strawberries were $1.10 a pounds and all varieties of peas were $.90 a pound.
On our way to the back of the barn to pick peas, we saw this tractor. Nick was very excited since we were able o take the tractor ride to the strawberry field. He also liked the peas sign.
Sally enjoyed the stroller for a bit before wanting to run around.
This was not a good year for peas, but we still had fun picking them. The strawberries at this farm are never sprayed. The set up is a bit different because you can pick where ever you want. Other places usually assign you a spot or row. I’m not sure which I prefer. They had a port-a-jon available which is always nice with the kids.
We ended up paying $2.77. That was for about 2.5 pounds of strawberries, .5 pound of snow peas, .5 pound of sugar snap peas, and a small handful of English shelling peas. I thought it was the best deal yet. Boughton offers other U-Picks and we’ll be heading back there again soon.
Today, we traveled to Ridgeview Farm in Middlefield, Ohio. From our house in Mayfield Heights, it’s about 45 minutes away. We made plans to meet up with some friends and our timing worked out well. We arrived about 9:15am. We had 2 adults and 5 kids (ages 4 and under) in our group.
I shared a few tips about U-Pick in last Wednesday’s post about West Orchards Farm.
The U-Pick at Ridgeview opened at 8 AM. Ridgeview also has a store that opens at 9 AM. The store sells produce and other “country store” items like jams and cheese. Since the store was open, that’s where we picked up our containers for picking.
This year, the price for U-Pick was $1.49 per pound. The strawberry field was in the back of the farm, which required a tractor ride. The farm had a 6 pound minimum for each adult who rode the tractor. We had the option to walk, but it was far, muddy and we had kids with us. We waited about 20 minutes for the tractor and then rode to the field. The kids LOVED the ride. I brought the BOB jogging stroller for Sally and I was glad to have it. It was easy to load on the tractor and was great to have to hold Sally when she was tired. It also gives me a place for my camera, diaper bag, water bottles, and other necessities.
Here’s a view of the farm and a photo of Nick, Sally and me on the tractor.
Here’s a photo of Sally and Nick.
We ended up picking until we heard the next tractor come back. I didn’t time it. My only concern was to make sure I met the minimum since I didn’t want to get charged for 6 pounds and take home 5. We took the tractor ride back to our car and paid for our berries. I ended up with 7.5 pounds.
We used the port-a-jon, loaded up and headed home. We ended up leaving around 11:30 AM.
Once we got home, I packaged up the berries. The containers on the right went into our fridge. The larger container (about 4 pounds) on the right went to my friend Shayna’s house.
Ridgeview Farm 5488 Kinsman Rd (SR 87) Middlefield, OH 44062 (440) 693-4000
Today was an especially busy day. The kids and I went to church to volunteer for a bit. Then, we headed to the J. I have had a kink in my shoulder and a headache everyday this week. I’m not sure if it is a lack of sleep or water, stress, or something else. Today, I treated myself to a 15 minute chair massage. It felt great. I didn’t get a headache today, but I still have the kink. I also managed to do 15 minutes on the elliptical. We got to the J later than normal, so I didn’t have time for much more. On my way to the showers, I ran into friends. We chatted and showering didn’t happen while I was there. The Kid Kare was really busy and short handed. The kids still had a great time.
After lunch, I needed to go to the store. So, I decided to ride my bike. The store is only 2 miles away, but round trip, that’s 4 miles and 20 minutes of extra activity. The only problem is that my knee hurts again. I don’t think I twisted wrong or anything that I recall, but it’s been really sore all afternoon. I was planning to spin in the morning (1/2 class), but now I think I’ll be doing PT exercises instead. I don’t have time for too much more rehab. It’s summer time and there is too much to enjoy!
Right before dinner, the neighbors started getting a new lawn. Someone in the family has a landscaping business so I suppose that Sunday afternoon is one of the only “downtimes” for them.
Nick and Sally were glued to the window taking it all in. It was the best entertainment ever. A bob cat and a dump truck were both involved and we didn’t have to leave the house. We can’t wait to see them put the lawn in.
I spent the rest of the day cooking and cleaning. I’ve been trying quite a few new recipes out. I’ll be doing more recipe posts soon. I feel like we can eat yummy leftovers for the next few meals.
Next up: more knee rehab at the J.