Science Friendly Activities to Check Out This Weekend! (Part 6)
Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes. Heirloom tomatoes: yellow, orange, green, and red; farm-fresh cherry tomatoes (sweet enough to keep eating right off the vine!); large cooking tomatoes that come from the farm and you can make into sauces; etc, etc, etc. In case it wasn’t obvious, let me be perfectly clear: I love tomatoes in all their forms. Luckily for us, August is tomato season! This year for the first time my family has planted a garden, from which we got a handful of blueberries, lots of weeds, and very many tomatoes that are starting to get ripe as we speak.
If you do not have your own tomato garden, or if your tomato garden is insufficient to keep up with the tomato consumption of tomato-obsessed individuals, here are some places where you can go tomato picking this weekend:
1. Ward’s Berry Farm in Sharon, MA (http://wardsberryfarm.com/index.html). Lots of tomatoes for picking and eating here. While you are at it, you can dig your own potatoes (heads up: this is actually a lot more work than it seems initially, although the fresh potatoes are delicious and last quite a long time), and dig your own carrots at the same farm. By the way, did you know carrot greens are edible? Use them in pesto (see here: https://www.loveandlemons.com/seasonal-favorites-carrot-top-pesto/) or in fried veggie patties (or “meatlessballs”: https://food52.com/recipes/37163-fried-greens-meatlessballs).
Other things to do at Ward’s Berry Farm include: the small petting zoo where you can feed the animals; the very large slide that is great for kids (and adults) to slide down, and the playground area that works for everyone. Have a smoothie and sandwich from their café inside while you’re at it, and think about making a day of it! This is our family’s local farm, so maybe we’ll see you there!
2. Salisbury Farm in Johnston, Rhode Island (https://salisburyfarm.com/). If you live in Rhode Island, this may be easier to get to. In addition to the tomato picking, the farm also has a corn maze. You can pick your own corn, raspberries, and other crops here as well. The farm also advertises itself as being “chemical free,” which we assume means “free from chemicals that are suspected to cause harm,” because nothing is actually chemical free in this world.
Check out this farm today and tell us about your experiences!
