On my birthday weekend, we took a rather last minute trip down to Harrisburg, OR to visit our dear friends the Kropfs. The trip was multipurpose as 1) we were long overdue to visit the farm 2) the Kropfs just welcomed their firstborn who we were dying to meet and 3) our grass fed cow who I will refer to as "Bessy" had been brought to slaughter a couple weeks prior and was ready to find her way to her new home in our freezer.
The trip was an absolute blast and quite honestly, I think I'm about ready to begin my farm life. The trip down was long but we made the almost 5 hour drive with only one pit stop in downtown Portland for my birthday lunch (at the Saturday market of course!) We welcomed the opportunity to stretch our legs and tour the far upon our arrival.
The baby carrying-mamas (unfortunately this is the best shot I got of our wonderful hostess Nikki)
As you can imagine, much like her mama, Isla ate up the farm life. We got to tour the garden, the hazelnut processing equipment and sit on the HUGE combines for harvesting grass seed (seriously, you don't realize how big those things are until you are right up next to one!)
Barney took us for a ride in the Gator (4 wheeler) to see the site of their outdoor wedding last August. We were SO bummed to have missed it but I was 39 weeks pregnant at the time and my doctor advised me to stay home. Boo. Enroute to the wedding site, we encountered some cows (Bessy's family probably...)
Grayson Elias - so adorable it's ridiculous
The evening of our arrival, Barney & Nikki grilled up some delicious carne asada tacos. They even had homemade blackberry crisp for my birthday dessert! The blackberries were fresh from the farm of course. They said they've been busy making jam and freezing berries all summer because of their endless supply of strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries and marionberries...sounds like the life to me!
Ok and how much more awesome can farm life get? Apparently on Saturday nights in the summer, they do movie night outside. I had no idea how incredibly this would be but the evening was complete with couches on the front lawn, popcorn and a giant INFLATABLE big screen!! I didn't know they made those things but it was awesome! And the best part? We could turn it up as loud as we wanted because the nearest neighbor was a mile or two away. Oh, and there happened to be a meteor shower that night and I saw the biggest shooting star I've seen in a long time - so cool!
Day 2 in farm country was just as exciting as the first. Isla got to hold Grayson and she loved his gumdrop binky because she could "see inside his mouth."
After church and naps, the Kropfs took us for a ride in the Gator to is uncle's house for some swimming in the swimming hole. This was a highlight for Graham and Isla.
Then we drove around the fields picking blackberries - we got just enough for us to take home to make jam and a pie!
That evening we enjoyed dinner at the annual Scandinavian Festival in the town nearby, complete with vikings and everything.
Of course there was dancing too which Isla thoroughly enjoyed.
We crammed a lot into our short 2-night stay but were so grateful to our hosts for a wonderful trip to the farm. In addition to the blackberries we picked, they also sent us home with bags of zucchini and kale, fresh from the garden. Can't wait to go back!
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