Elderkin's U-Pick: Strawberry fields forever

"Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields. Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about. Strawberry Fields forever."
The Beatles.

I was told it was too late in the season for picking strawberries.

I never was all that good at listening.

So my foodie friend Kristen (of With Bite) and I went to Wolfville for the day anyway. After a visit to the Farmers Market, we stopped at one of three u-picks open that day. Our u-pick pick was Elderkins. We went to the store, grabbed our crate and wooden quart-sized boxes and made for the field across the way.

The occasional rain shower was a reprieve from the 30C hot and humid day. Not that it mattered much, those red dots peeking out of the bushes were beckoning.

We picked along, turning back leaves to reveal plump red juicy strawberries. The bigger berries could be found at the bottom due to their weight.

Row upon row...roaming from patch to patch, it didn't take long before Kristen and I were at opposite ends of the field. Once in a while we'd shout out to one another, "oh boy, hit the jackpot here!" or "hello over-sized strawberry, of course you can come home with me!"

I was a good girl, I only popped three in my mouth (sorry Mr. Elderkin).

It was hard to pull away but one hour got us our bounty and the clouds looked like they were going to burst again.

There were still lots of unripe strawberries everywhere and Kristen and I figured there was still at least one week left of picking.

Glad I didn't listen.

See more photos on The Right Coast NS' Flickr page

Wolfville Farmers' Market

On a grey Saturday morning, with travel mugs perched in their cup holders, my friend Kristen of "with bite" drove highway 101 from Halifax to Wolfville. Valley girls, for the day.

Before passing by Domaine de Grand Pré and the beautiful Victorian homes just outside Wolfville, we made a pit stop at Just Us! Coffee Roasters for a re-fill. This coffee is my fav and there is always a bag in my cupboard.

The Wolfville Farmers' Market is pretty easy to find. Just follow the smells, the live music or anybody carrying canvas shopping bags.

This is a market where fresh produce doesn't have to travel far. It is, after all, the Annapolis Valley, where those apples were picked in an orchard just down the road.

Last week, the Info Booth's featured item of the week was fennel. Fennel was just starting it's first week in season and samples of fresh fennel vichyssoise were available to taste. You could pick up a copy of fennel recipes with an ingredient checklist of items available right there at the market. Clever thinking.

After chowing down in one of the yummy cookies pictured above, Kristen and I watched Chef Michael Howell prepare a fabulous drink called Raspberry Lime Rickey (lime simple syrup, raspberry puree and soda water). You see, raspberries were also in season and a u-pick had recently opened nearby.

I was on a quest to find lavender jelly (August 2008 blog post) since I was down to my last teaspoon but was told the ladies weren't there that week. Kristen started her Christmas shopping at a jewelery booth.

Next, it was time for these two valley girls to find a strawberry u-pick. That blog post is coming up next.

For more information:
* Wolfville Farmers' Market
* Find them on Facebook
* See more Farmers Market photos on The Right Coast NS' Flickr page


About Wolfville:
Wolfville is the first fair trade town in Canada. The town is separated from the Minas Basin (part of the Bay of Fundy) by agricultural dykes which were built by Acadians in the 17th century. Wolfville Harbour is the smallest harbour in the world. It's the home of Acadia University. Go Axemen! (That was tough for me to type because I went to St. F.X.)

Hiking Cape Split Provincial Park Reserve

On a sunny weekend last fall, I hiked Cape Split with a bunch of girlfriends. We laughed a lot.

Wolfville was the meeting place before we set off on our amazing adventure but wait...

Since it was:
1. October
2. We were in Wolfville
3. It was Saturday

...The stars were aligned to pop into Farmers Market to stock up on fuel for the hike. Speaking of fuel, we needed that too for the 35-40 minute drive to Scotts Bay from Wolfville. A group photo was taken at The Blomidon Look Off - where on a clear day like ours, you can see five counties in Nova Scotia and Cape Blomidon and the New Minas Basin.

With "Rocky", a part boxer and German haired pointer mix dog as our guide, we set off for the 16 km hike. The trail was a mixed bag of a few bumpy places, one fallen tree to climb over, swampy patches but mostly good terrain. The terrain didn't bother 10 year old Rocky at all.

Conversation and laughter filled the woods as we ventured along, passing hikers on their way from the trail head. About an hour later we started asking every hiker that approached us from the opposite direction with "how much further?" It wasn't like we were bored, we were excited to reach the stunning view ahead (okay, and eat lunch). After about 90 minutes of hiking, we reached the large open area of field and steep cliffs below. We sat and ate our lunches on the west side
slope.

Dozens of pictures of the cliffs and Bay of Fundy and watching Rocky dig a hole to China later, we reluctantly decided to hike back and leave our scenic reward behind. Only 90 minutes (or so) back to our cars and dinner at a trendy gastro pub.

If you are hiking Cape Split, we very careful to stick to the main trail. Read the sign at the entrance of the trail very carefully! We were reminded of this when we met four Acadia students who took a misleading trail from the trail head. They said our laughter helped re-orient them back to the original trail, when they met up with us we provided them with tasty treats to sustain them for the hike back to their vehicle.

So in one afternoon, we hiked Cape Split and then had dinner in Wolfville. Not at the gastro pub but a popular place on Main Street. The drive back to Halifax was quiet, our muscles were aching. Not so much from the hike but from laughing so much.


Links:
Province of Nova Scotia Cape Split link
Location of Cape Split (1.57MB pdf)
Wikipedia description

Join Scotts Bay and Cape Split's Facebook fan page


View more pictures from our hike on Flickr