This Day Was a Treat!

Today we decided to take in the Lansdowne Park Strawberry Social. It was hosted by the Farmers Market at the same location.  The last time we went to this market it was held inside, but that was quite a while ago. Today it was outside and the weather was perfect for it. There was a good crowd present and there was lots to see.

There were all kinds of booths with farm products. The most abundant things seemed to be various lettuces and of course, strawberries.

 I had a chat with a lady from Acorn Creek (one of my favourite producers) about what to do with the scapes in my garden. I'm not fond of pesto, which is what everyone keeps telling me to make with them. Now I know I can cut them up and put them in my stirfries. She says she doesn't use the "blossom" part. Good thing she told me that as I might have thought that was the only part to use. The only scapes I have ever seen before came pickled in a jar from Almonte.

I came home with multicoloured beets and, of course, strawberries.

Other things found at the market are crafts

musicians

and specialty foods, like those produced by the Falafel Guys.

But as I said, we went for the Strawberry social where we were treated to helpings of strawberry shortcake (donation appreciated).

I also enjoyed getting to vote on my favorite strawberry jam.  There were 8 samples in the contest and I had to go back and test a couple of them over again to make my final choice. Such a chore!

Earlier in the week I had read something about a place called Cinnaholic and decided to look that up. I was fascinated to discover the franchise exists in Ottawa and told my hubby we would have to seek it out someday.  They let you custom design your own cinnamon bun. You pick the type of icing you want on it and also choose whatever toppings you may want on top of that. I was so excited when we came out of the parking garage and the first thing I saw was a Cinnaholic shop, so there was no way I was going home without trying this place out. We stopped in before we headed back to the car. Okay, so maybe it was lunch time and we had already had strawberry shortcake, but really, could you pass up an opportunity like that?

My hubby chose to top his with banana cream and coconut, while I chose cream cheese and strawberries. I told him mine looked prettier, but I could tell he was really enjoying his too.

Everything about out outing today was a treat.

Sundae Sunday

There were so many things available to do this past weekend but the weatherman was threatening rain again. We decided to choose an activity we wouldn't have to pay for, just in case. We spend the day in the country and were highly rewarded in the process.  We discovered something called Sundae Sunday. 

Two family farms, the Avonmore Berry Farm and Kemmatten Dairy Farm, opened their doors to the public this past weekend to celebrate Canada's 150th birthday and Canadian Agriculture.

Our first stop was at the berry farm. They are actually much more than that as they also have an apple orchard and fields full of a wide variety of different vegetables. Besides visiting their lovely shop where produce and baked goods are sold, on this day you could take a guided walking tour of the fields. There are play areas for the kids too, including a hay mow with ropes set up for them to swing and hang from. Great fun, I'm sure! The main event this day was the strawberry sundaes.  For just $5 you received a large bowl of ice cream covered with an equally generous portion of fresh strawberries grown right there on the property. 
 

While eating this heavenly treat we were entertained by two McDonald brothers. Hamish, the young fiddle player, is only 13 years old but already an accomplished musician. His brother, Alec, who didn't appear to be more than a couple of years older, had a surprisingly rich and mature voice. They said they were normally part of a four-member band called the County Lads, but they were fantastic all on their own and I  expect them to go far in the music business.

While they were playing some of the red-shirted volunteers for the day gathered in front and gave us a little demonstration of their Scottish dancing abilities. One girl, after some coaxing, proved the Irish can dance too. Once she got started she had a wonderful time.

When the musical entertainment was over we moved on to the dairy farm. Everyone was issued blue booties to prevent tracking disease into the barn. The cows were housed in a nice clean modern barn with mechanized back scratchers, manure scrapers and a hay pusher that travelled back and forth pushing the hay the cows scattered into the aisles back where they could reach it. 

Out back there was a large assortment of very large John Deere equipment, all nicely cleaned up for viewing. The milking parlour was unfortunately empty at the time we were there. But we were all treated to a pint of milk (chocolate, in my case) and a good serving of St Albert curds. Oh, they were so good! 

We had a lovely day that didn't cost anything except for the gas to get there and the $5 each for the sundaes. We also went home with a pad and some new pens, plus a couple of large shopping bags.  It was a great way to spend the day and we definitely got more than our money's worth. All the money raised from the sale of the sundaes went to the local 4-H, Junior Farmers and Lions Clubs.