Today, we went to Eckert’s for their “Spring Fling.” It was so much fun! Ladybug got to pet a pony:

And we went on a wagon ride, which isn’t that unusual, but we’ve never gotten to do that in April before…it was fun to see the trees blooming along the way!

The main reason we went to the Spring Fling was to go on a farm tour. It was truly fascinating. Chris Eckert was the one leading it, and he shared tons of information about the crops they grow, and the new methods they try out. One of the highlights of the tour was going in the green house, where they’re growing tomatoes. We learned a lot about how the green house works, and how many tomatoes they grow in a season.

The have an interesting system of growing the tomatoes…six of the rows grow on traditional trellises, while the final row is going to be left to grow up to the ceiling of the green house on a special system of cables and clips.

We also saw the strawberry field…later in the year, it will be seeded for the pumpkin patch.

It was interesting to see the weather station at work:

Their center of farm operations is huge. I guess it needs to be, to house all of the vehicles and equipment they need, but I was still surprised to see it!

We stopped at the peach orchard. It was interesting to hear how they thin the blossoms and fruit to make sure the trees don’t have too much growing on them.

He showed us how to peel back the blossoms to find the tiny peach inside!

Eckert’s now has a small vineyard, and this summer, they’ll be producing their own wines…I’m looking forward to trying one!

We also drove past the beehives that they outsource. They keep the bees near the apple orchards, because the apple trees need to be cross-pollinated (in this case, with crab apples), in order to produce fruit.

We also saw the blackberry field.

They have a fascinating rotating trellis for the blackberry plants, to make them easier to pick.

We learned that the old farmhouse on the property was built in 1881, and is now used as office space.

It was a fun afternoon at one of our favorite places, and we learned a lot on top of it!