Harvest Goodness

Well, fall is here in the agricultural belt. Harvest time.

Fortunately, the fun loving farmers one of the local organic farms have a flair for celebrating the fall, and offer up a delightful harvest fair each year. Joel and I went last year and had such a good time that we thought "this has got to be a family tradition!" So this year, we wrangled 2 family members to join our little family, and Jeanne, Kyler, Joel, Ila and I were off! Who cares that the kids had runny noses and were a little cranky when we left the house. We knew they'd have a great time.

Highlights included haystacks, turkeys in the petting zoo, jack o'lanterns, hoochi mama salad (tomatoes, watermelon, chili and olive oil), home made ice cream, kids with seriously dirty faces and clothes (wait til next year, Ila!), running into Martha (with whom I interned for at Paper Tiger Television public access show in New York), and watching Kyler march around like a worker ant at a performance by the kids' stage.

However, the biggest hit for young and old alike was the live band and contra dancing. Since it was hard to join in with the little ones in hand, we just circled and clapped on the sides. The kids were in heaven! A favorite moment for me was when the caller, upon seeing that there were far too many people on the dirt "dance floor" to circle holding hands, instructed the crowd to "break into a big old hippy dance" instead. Lets just say we had so much fun I forgot to take pictures.

Next year maybe we'll make it to some of the adult activities, like herbal workshops of tree pruning instructions.

The other part of the "Harvest Goodness" was going to a huge pumpkin patch with Jeanne and Kyler just down the road. Kyler was in heaven going through the kid's corn maze (which wasn't a maze at all, but just a winding path cut through a patch of corn) pulling a wagon, climbing on hay, playing in some tiny houses. A tradition begins...