Sunday drivers: open farm edition

So we created a goal of becoming Sunday (morning) drivers during football season.  As a means to distract Christopher from the football-induced anxiety he suffers from each Sunday morning and to prevent me from puttering non-stop, we decided that we will take Sunday morning as our time to enjoy and find ways to not simply pass the morning, but to truly enjoy it. 

Sleepy Sunday morning pre-drivers

Yesterday marked attempt #1, and we can successfully declare the Sunday Drivers victorious. 

Our day began early, with a 6:30am wakeup call from the littlest member of the group.  After some coffee for us, milk for him, and a bit of eye rubbing from all three of us, we piled into the car to head west (young grasshopper).  We had our eyes on Route 9 as the means to our end: Chestnut Farms in Hardwick, MA.   Chestnut Farms is where our monthly meat CSA (community supported agriculture) originates. 

Back up: earlier this year we signed up for a monthly meat CSA, and since then we have received ten pounds of meat (cow, pig, chicken) fresh from the farm the 2nd Tuesday of each month.  In a word, it is awesome.  So delicious.  Especially the bacon.  Oh, the bacon. 

Anyways, Sunday morning we headed west on Route 9, destination Hardwick.  Our first stop of the day was Rutland State Park for a brief stroll through the woods, by a pond, through more woods, and back to the car.  As Sunday was the first of my favorite types of fall days - crisp yet still warm air, cool breezes, shining blue sky - our walk through the woods was a delight.  We finished it off with a snack at the car - all three of us - before piling back in to continue our journey.

 

 

Next up was the Hardwick Farmer's Market, pleasantly located on Hardwick's town green.  We stocked up on beets, rainbow chard, poblano chiles, hearty breads from a local bakery, and some hermits to satisfy a sweet tooth.  And then we carried on smartly - next stop, the farm!

 

Let me pause here for a minute.  I'm fairly certain that at this point in time it was still before 11am.  No one can accuse us of wasting a day (remember, these are pre-football Sunday drives). 

So the farm: it was a delight!  We wandered around, visited the new chicks, saw a few piglets (including the runt - he was so cute, poor little baby bacon), hung out in the fields, and sat under a shady tree.  Oh, we also saw our Thanksgiving dinner - s/he was busy growing into a delicious dinner, entirely oblivious to what is to come. 

Anyways, after the farm we climbed back in the car to head home, Sunday drive complete.  We arrived home just in time for the end of the first games (we're new to this and our timing wasn't as great as it could be).  Thoroughly exhausted, we spent our afternoon watching football, cooking the bounty from the farmer's market, eating the bounty from the farmer's market, and relishing in the success of our first Sunday drive. 

See you at Thanksgiving dinner, Turkey.