A fun filled day

On Tuesday morning we set off to the pack house for a tour. We all had to put on caps and wash our hands before entering .We were taken around by the manager and shown the entire process from when the vegetables arrive in crates from the field to loading of the trucks for market. I had never thought about the process and it was fascinating to see it.

Hygiene is very important and the vegetables are handled with care throughout the process. They are picked, washed, sorted, weighed, packaged, labelled and crated before they leave the farm. I was amazed to hear that that they are picked a number of times a day and if they are not picked at the right time of day, they can grow to sizes that are too big very quickly. At the moment there are marrows, gems and yellow and green patti pans as well as artichokes being sent off to market. The vegetables all have a batch number so that any problems can be traced right back to the planting of the seeds. It was a privilege to be taken around and shown the entire process.

Next we visited the saw mill that my brother in law has set up on the farm. The scent of the pine and cedar wood is just amazing.

We left the farm and went on to Clocolon, another nearby town. We visited the Constantia farm stall and enjoyed browsing around.We bought some cherry juice concentrate to enjoy at home. Later my sisters husband joined us for lunch at The Cabin (pictured above), another lovely farm stall with all sorts of amazing items...We enjoyed a fantastic lunch of the best cheeseburgers in town out on the deck and finally made out way back to the farm.

In the late afternoon my sister and I took a walk up to the patti pan fields to see if we could find any that were too big for market. We found some really big ones. I have so enjoyed spending time chatting and walking on the farm with her. The views are amazing and it does my soul good!

The children have been having a great time catching up and enjoying each others company. In the afternoons, the boys are joined by the 3 boys from the main house and they just play and play and play.....they get muddy and dirty and fall into bed at night!

The girls have been swimming up at the main house and enjoying the company of the 2 girls there too. On Tuesday night they went for a sleep over there and the 4 girls spent the night in the guest cottage. They had great fun together!