As I wrote on Friday, we had a long drive back and forth from the Niagara region to pick up some organic pears.

The traffic halfway to there was terrible, and we realized we should have left much earlier in the morning to find emptier roads. But, once off the highway in the Niagara region, the sight of wide open farms and vineyards and orchards is very soothing to the soul…mostly as a contrast to the busy highways, I suppose.

All the little stalls on the roadside in Niagara selling produce are very enticing. We did stop at one on our way to picking up pears, and got some in-season champagne grapes, along with the last of local peaches…oh, it’s so hard to control when faced with all the amazing fruits of the season, and they definitely don’t last long!

Once we got to the farm to pick up our pears, our farmer came out, and we started talking. He was telling us about the origins of the various pears that we were picking up. And he mentioned the apples that were just starting to ripen, and maybe we’d like to get some…

Well, good apples are always welcome, so off we went. And this trip to pick the apples became an hour long traversing though the farm with Marc, the farmer showing us around, and proudly telling us about everything he has going on and about the intricacies of his job that we would have no idea of. The apple trees’ branches laid out horizontal on fences, and buds that become fruiting buds, and the difference in the ripening of a fruit in parts that’s exposed to the sun versus that’s covered by leaves- we had no idea of any of this! 

We also tasted fruit from the trees as we went, since Marc had a handy pocket knife with him to cut them to share. I suspect he always has one in his pocket.

Yes, the walk through the farm was an unexpected stop in our day. But very welcome, and very informative. We had a generous host who was willingly sharing his time and knowledge and pride in his work with us. 

It didn’t hurt that the weather was perfect- partly cloudy, just about 23 degrees, and a mild breeze blowing.

Marc’s dog, Levi, was accompanying us the whole time. But his interest was mostly in running and fetching the ball that Marc was tossing around time to time.

A most unexpectedly delightful afternoon indeed!