Strawberry Day at Harmony Valley Farm in Viroqua, WI was just about everything I hoped it would be - loads of gorgeous strawberries to pick, a fun group of people to pick them with (carloads of people from the Twin Cities and Madison, mostly - where Harmony Valley drops off a combined 1100 vegetables shares each week), and a pot luck lunch that would make anybody proud to be a Midwesterner. The best thing about the pot luck - besides the fact that it went on forever and was replenished constantly - was that every one of us has just about the same groceries. That meant that I got to sample a bunch of different uses for parsnips, for example (parsnip muffins, anyone?), and came home with a bunch of new ideas (in addition to 6 pints of fresh strawberries, of course).
Harmony Valley's Kelly (L) and Terri
Given weather conditions - damp and drizzly - and squirmy kids, we didn’t get to take advantage of the 1 1/2 hour farm tour (maybe Brian from East Lake or Nate from Team Cross World will blog about it?), but we did get to explore on our own a bit, saying hello to the goats and chasing frogs. Harmony Valley is in a gorgeous part of Wisconsin, and the drive through the country side was lush, green, and beautiful.
I was especially glad to meet Terri Kromenaker, our CSA coordinator, Kelly, who works on the farm, and Farmer Richard, who runs the place. What a perfect way to spend the day! If you’re someone who gets food from Harmony Valley (and even if you’re not), I highly recommend seeing the place.
