Berryfest

This weekend we attended the first annual Berryfest here in town. I love festivals that celebrate what the land has to offer. We attend the Apple Festival every year and I'm sure the Berryfest will be an annual tradition for us as well. Unfortunately, we didn't have the best start as my camera battery died with no warning and I didn't have a spare so all these photos were taken with my phone. After that little blip we settled right in to enjoying all the things the festival had to offer.
The whole thing started with a wagon tour of the farm. April loved it and it just reminded me of how much I'd love to have an acreage to farm. The had kiwi, blackberries, a beautiful field of squash, apples, cabbage, currants, strawberries, gorgeous raspberries, and a bunch of other veggies.
The first thing we did after the wagon ride was the cedar maze. It smelled so amazing in there, it reminded me of all those cedar wreaths they sell at Christmastime. April loved being able to just run and run without us reminding her to hold our hand. It was quite large and harder than we anticipated. We were so relieved to reach the end.
Next we stopped by the 4H club tent. Our little girl loves animals and was thrilled with the chance to pet a duck. She also really enjoyed the cows. I personally love the bunnies. And then we moved on to the Young Farmers Club and April got the chance to play with some soil and plant a little container of basil. I love things like this that encourage young children to think about where our food comes from and how we treat the animals that are raised for human use.
April also got the chance to play her first go fish game. It was fun to watch her face when she felt that little tug on the other end of the line. She won a little bottle of bubbles which was the perfect thing to keep her occupied while we waited for the wagon to come back and pick us up.
Included with the price of admission was a cup of ice cream with farm fresh berries. I didn't really get any ice cream because I only really wanted those berries. Luckily April had no interest in the berries only the ice cream so I ate her berries too. After that we went and pick our own berries to take home. At that point April could not get enough raspberries. For every two I put in the basket, April demanded one for herself.  We still managed to leave with about 3lbs of raspberries. We also picked some strawberries, although it wasn't the best time for strawberries. We seemed to have the choice of either mushy, over-ripe berries or tiny green ones. We will wait a few more weeks before going back for more berries.
Yes, it was a great day. April was so tuckered out for all the fun that she fell asleep on the drive home (which is very rare for her). Celebrating the harvest just helps to keep our lives in rhythm with the seasons and strengthen our connection to the land.