Six Acres of Sunflowers

We had tentative plans to attend a lasagna cook-off in Hernando County this afternoon. But I wanted... no, I needed... to go somewhere interesting to take photos even more. I looked through the Happenings section of yesterday's Chronicle and couldn't find anything. Then I thought Hmm, let me look for Facebook events near here and see if I can find anything interesting. Look what I found!

This sounded perfect! Because it was in Hernando County, we  could look at sunflowers and then eat lasagna! Off we went.

Sweetfields Farm was a little bit further away than I imagined in my mind, but it wasn't too bad a ride. It was very easy to find. I realized once we got here that I had no idea how much this event was going to cost. Relief washed over me when I realized we didn't have to pay. The entrance fee was $9.50 plus tax for adults and $5 per child. Having no idea what to expect, I had no sense of whether this was a good price or not. There was a reasonable crowd - and I love taking photos of sunflowers. Seemed reasonable enough.

Very easy to find!

This was the view from the "parking lot."

Once you're thru the entrance, you need to walk through a market to get to the rest of the farm. The market was very quaint. They sold produce and sunflowers that was grown on the farm. Yellow squash, cucumbers and green beans were available for u-pick. They sometimes have u-pick blackberries but that was suspended since the ripe berries had been mostly picked over already.

Once we were outside, WOW! 

The sunflowers were amazing!

After taking some photos of sunflowers, we started walking towards the sunflower maze. 

Lots of rules and instructions before we walked in.

We'd been given this list of numbered questions. The idea was to find the numbers along the path, answer the question and then go in the direction written next to the correct response.

Okay, that didn't work! We got to number 1 - and quickly got lost. We tried backtracking and quickly ended up at the location for the final question. Yes, we skipped questions 2 through 6 and were at question 7. We made a wrong guess there, walked towards a dead end, then turned around and walked the other way. And in less than 20 minutes, we were out of the maze! We seriously did plan to walk through the entire maze, but once we found ourselves outside, I took it as a sign that we should be doing something else!

Outside the maze, we explored what else was available. And there was lots! Lots for kids but plenty for adults!

There was a rubber ducky race with water pumps propelling the duckies.
The kids whose hand is in the lower left cornerof the photo
was a master! He had those duckies flying!

Rosie Moo Moo
Kids & adults had the opportunity to feed her and her pal.

Huge tree house

Snacks
Besides kettle korn, there was wood fire
pizza and ice cream.

And lots of sunflowers!

 Against beautiful blue skies!

In addition to the maze, the animals (cows, pigs, goats, chicken, turkey) and the tree house, there were pedal tractors, pig races, arts & crafts and much, much more. We only had about 2 hours to spend here but you could easily spend 3 to 4 hours at the farm if you're without children and many more hours if you're there with children.

Included in the admission was a hayride. It wasn't the most exciting hayride but we were able to get a better sense of how large the farm is (19 acres), how much space is devoted to sunflowers, and what types of things they had growing.

The building where produce is sold as seen from the hayride over the
blackberry bushes.

I would have loved to pick blackberries.
But as you can see, not too many were ripe!

The u-pick fields

We picked green beans. 

This is the final weekend of the Sunflower Maze. The first weekend was in late April. This is something I'd definitely go back to again.

In the fall, there is a hay maze and special activities for Halloween. There's a pumpkin patch... but I think the pumpkins might be brought in as I believe it's too warm to grow pumpkins down here.

Sweetfields Farm is a small, family-run organic farm. The owners are a young family so lots of what is available to do at the farm is geared towards other young families. I highly recommend visiting this farm when you want something a little different to do.

Fruity Day with Friends

I promise. I really do go on a lot of interesting adventures. But with the recent death in the family, our adventures are few and far between right now.

On Thursday of this week, we did a repeat of my fruity adventure that I've already written about. This time we did it a little differently - and we brought along some friends.

We drove to Yalaha, a little less than an hour away. Since it was still early, we headed to Green Acres Farm first. I really had no idea if there would still be peaches or we'd have to be satisfied with only late blueberries. We parked the car, were handed our buckets and headed over to the peaches. If the peaches were delicious two weeks earlier, they were super delicious on Thursday. The trees weren't as full as they'd been earlier, but there were plenty of peaches for the 4 of us... and many more. We went and got our peaches weighed. I'd forgotten to tell our friends that only cash and check are accepted as payment so they were wiped out by the peaches. In addition, we were told that the late blueberries hadn't yet ripened and that better blueberry picking would be in two weeks.

Next stop was Yalaha Bakery. Oh, did I mention that our friends are from Germany? They were very anxious to see how authentic this bakery was. Sadly, I have no photos from our visit to the bakery because there was major reorganization going on at the time we were there.

It was super crowded when we arrived. My husband spotted the one loaf of rye bread that he really wanted to buy so we got in line at the bakery to make sure that bread was coming home with us. Our friends bought a whole grain loaf of bread. Once we had our breads, we were ready for lunch. We walked into the deli area only to find that while we had to look at the lunch menu in the deli area, we had to go back to the bakery to place our order. Back in line again. The folks working behind the counter seemed overwhelmed by the crowds. I wondered if Memorial Day weekend was a big baked goods consumption day. I really couldn't figure out why all the crowds.

We ordered our lunch and a bee sting, the dessert they are most known for, and headed outside to find a shady spot in which to eat. Lunch came out a few minutes later. I had a reuben with potato salad and sauerkraut on a pretzel roll. My husband had his reuben on a basler roll. One friend had the white bratwurst and for the life of me, I can't remember what our other friend ate. Was it authentically German? No, they didn't believe it was. Yes, bee sting is the signature dessert of Germany. But that wasn't similar to what they would eat in Germany. Even still, they said that lunch  was good and they enjoyed it. (For more authentic German food, they recommended Hollerbach's Willow Tree Cafe in Sanford. I've been there twice since January and while I had no idea if the food was authentic or not, it was very good, as was the live entertainment on a Friday night.)

Somehow over lunch we got back to talking about blueberries and we asked if they'd been to the blueberry winery. No, they hadn't. We told them about Whispering Oaks Winery in Oxford which was practically on the way home. A glass of wine was sounding pretty good to them about that time. Additionally, they were intrigued with the idea of wine made of blueberries. That was our next stop.

They loved the setting of the winery. We saw cows, sheep and goats once we drove through the gates. These are happy goats. (I'm not sure if they are still feed the mash from the wine, but that was the story we heard when the winery first opened and there's still a sign that reads Happy Goat Crossing along the driveway.

Our companions are lovers of dry red wine so they each ordered a glass of Delightfully Dry. (When we've introduced the winery to friends in the past, we've always recommended trying one of the samplers but since these friends expressed a strong preference for dry wine, it didn't make sense for them to be tasting some of the sweeter wines that would have been included in either the 7- or 4- flight samplers.) My husband had his favorite, Wildly Mild, and I opted for Sassy Sangria.

Since the last time we'd been to Whispering Oaks, they've enlarged their menu tremendously. A couple at the bar was enjoying Smokey Dogs Fish & Crackers, a smoked fish dip served with crackers, along with their wine. Our friends and I agreed that if we hadn't just eaten at Yalaha, we would have ordered the Happy Goat Cheese Plate.

Sitting outside, we shared what we learned about the winery on our first visit a few years back. We stumbled across the winery on our way to The Villages on what turned out to be opening weekend. One of our friends enjoyed the wine. The other, not so much so. They enjoyed the atmosphere though and were impressed by the menu. The winery now serves beer. too. That was the clincher for the friend who prefers grape wines. They'll be back. As will we. 

A fruity kind of day

My husband loves fruit. Love isn't even a strong enough word for what he feels about fruit. While visiting his cousins in Italy this past fall, I learned that it might possibly be a family thing. Or a Sicilian thing. Maybe not just his thing.

Two years ago, he and my cousin discovered peach picking at Green Acres Farm and after that first trip, it's now something that we do annually. Yesterday was our 2016 peach picking adventure.

There might be closer places to pick peaches than Green Acres Farm in Yalaha, Florida. If so, we haven't heard of any. This makes for a really nice half day outing. It's a little over an hour away from home. We drove to Green Acres the quicker way which is down the Florida Turnpike to exit 314 and then east to Yalaha.

The fellow who greeted us as we pulled up gave us a bucket each for peaches and a bucket each for blueberries. (We'd already gone blueberry picking once this season, closer to home, at Misty Meadows Farm. I'll mention here that we passed lots of signs for many different u-pick blueberry farms during our travels yesterday.) We ended up picking 3 buckets of peaches and not quite one of blueberries. You pay by the pound. Yesterday blueberries were $4 per pound and peaches were $3 per pound. Cash is the method of payment accepted so be prepared. Also, I'd advise you to check online to make sure that these farms - or any u-pick farms - before heading out just to make sure they have crops available for picking.

Green Acres told me that their blackberries are running late this year - and that their crop is going to be really small. Another reason why it makes sense to call ahead and check before getting in your car.

Since it's a bit later in the season (by one week), the blueberries we got yesterday were on the larger side in comparison to what we picked two weeks ago. But the peaches. Oh, man, the peaches. Heavenly. They were firm and sweet and tree ripened and wonderful! If you're not familiar with Florida peaches, they are slightly smaller than Georgia peaches. I guess it has to do with the fact that we don't get as many chill hours down here.

If you've never gone picking before, here are some picking tips.

Normally, our next stop would be at the nearby famous Yalaha Bakery. This is a destination on its own. It's an authentic German bakery that sells amazing breads and pastries and cookies. It also has a deli counter using genuine German recipes open for breakfast and lunch. There are tables for eating both inside and outside so don't let weather deter you from venturing out to the bakery. They used to have a grill outside on the weekends serving all kinds of wursts. I haven't been there on a weekend in a long time so I'm not sure if that's still the case. Most Saturdays and rare Sundays have bands performing on the stage outside. If the weather is fine, there's no better place to go for a picnic lunch. A picnic lunch that you don't have to pack for yourself!

Yesterday, though, following along with our fruit theme, we drove over to A Natural Farm in Howey-in-the-Hills to look at fruit trees and to learn about growing fruit trees in Central Florida. It's very tricky growing many things in our part of Central Florida. We're above the frost line (meaning we do go below freezing during the winter). Unlike northern gardeners who go to great lengths to winterize their fruit trees, we don't need to. Because we can have a nice mild winter. But it can get mighty cold. We need special varieties of trees that are cold hardy to at least 18 degrees F, if not a little colder. Even then, our fruit trees need to be carefully protected when there's a risk of freezing temperatures overnight. Luc spent time with us making recommendations of what might best grow in Citrus County. Even though Howey-in-the-Hills is just a little more than an hour away, they don't get the freezing cold nights that we get here. And then there's also the required chill hours for any type of tree. (All this is material for another blog on gardening in Citrus County, one that I'm not qualified to write!)

After our visit to A Natural Farm, we headed home on a longer more scenic route. We followed SR48 back into Citrus County (Floral City). There's a historical market on SR 48 that I've always been curious about. Yesterday, I decided to stop and check it out. What I found was a historical marker for The Battle of Wahoo Swamp. I correctly guessed that this was part of one of the Seminole Wars.

If you're interested, the inscription reads as follows:

 The Battle of Wahoo Swamp occurred nearby on November 21, 1836.

 The 2d Seminole War, a seven-year clash caused by rivalry between 

 Indians and settlers over central Florida lands, had begun almost a year

 before. By November, Indian forces had converged on Wahoo Swamp

 to fight General (and Territorial Governor) R.K. Call's army. On 

 November 21, about 2500 Tennessee Volunteers, regular army artillery, 

  Florida militiamen, and hundreds of Creek Indians advanced on a  

  one-mile front. In the wild melee that ensued,the Americans pushed 

  their foes across the slough south of this marker. Indian return fire 

  killed Major David Moniac, a Creek regular army officer, who had 

   led a charge across the swamp. Army commanders halted the pursuit 

  at nightfall due to the seemingly impassable terrain and lack of supplies. 

  Army casualties were low; Indian losses remain unknown.

I don't think I've lived in Florida for a long enough time to fully understand all the implications of the two Seminole wars. But it is pretty cool that there are historical markers pretty close to where I live. The more interesting thing that I saw on the spot of this historic marker was the sign for Primitive Camp Grounds. I plan to do more research on what exactly this means and will report back once I have some answers. (As an FYI, most camping to me is pretty primitive.)