Greenfield Berry Farm

From About.com contributor, Amelia Z. Sawyer:

The Last Days of Summer
As summer comes to a close I find myself scurrying to pack my weeks with outdoor kid-friendly activities. Last week was no exception. The Chef & I packed the car with kids, diapers, milk, and snacks and drove out to the Cuyahoga Valley to visit (and pick berries) Greenfield Berry Farm. We pulled in the drive and were pleased to see fields of berries, a barn, and some other crop that we would find out to be fingerling potatoes.

Green Fields Ahead…
My son Catcher, who had been talking about picking berries each night prior to the farm visit for a week, jumped out of the car, picked up a basket, and ran towards the field. As I scurried after him, the Chef grabbed our daughter, Louisiana and met with Farmer Greenfield. Farmer Greenfield created the Certified Naturally Grown berry farm in a partnership with Cuyahoga Valley Conservancy through their Countryside Initiative. This year, the Greenfield Berry Farm is offering strawberries, blackberries, black raspberries, elderberries, garlic, fingerling potatoes, sweet potatoes, heirloom pumpkins, and sunflowers for cutting.

Farm Fun
I followed Catcher down the path towards the raspberries and paused a moment to wait for the Chef & Lou to catch up. By the time they made it to the field, Catcher had probably eaten two to three quarts. What can I say? The boy loves the raz. As a family we managed to pick about two quarts of raspberries and then were approached by Farmer Greenfield. He asked us if we would like him to dig up some fingerling potatoes with his tractor. We immediately said yes and before I knew it Catcher was headed towards the large farm tractor.

Baby Loves Dirt & Potatoes
The fingerling potato experience was so cool. Farmer Greenfield basically overturned the dirt with his tractor and beautiful golden fingerlings would appear. Even little Louisiana got into the spirit. She decided that she has no qualms with dirt and went right for the potato eatin’. We managed to get about 5 huge baskets of fingerlings. When we got home I realized how many potatoes’ we actually had and made the Chef take about half to his restaurant.

Greenfield Berry Farm was a great experience for all of us. Farmer Greenfield let us know that they will have pumpkin picking in October as well as educational classes. For more information about Greenfield Berry Farm please visit their website or give them a call at (330) 657-2924. Greenfield Berry Farm is located at 2485 Major Road in Pennisula.

Editor's Note: for more fall food fun, visit one of NE Ohio's many apple farms.

^{(photo © AZ Sawyer)}