Rodale and More

We toured Rodale Institute, Eckerton Hill Farm and Glick’s Greenhouse.

A few days ago, I had the pleasure of meeting up with two friends, Barb from A Life in Balance and Frugal Local Kitchen, and Lauryn, from The Vintage Mom, and their kids and take some great farm tours in the Oley and Kutztown, PA areas. Driving through farmland always put me in the right zone and it was a treat to listen to Tomato shout, “Cows!” and “I love covered bridges!” from the back seat.

We started our day at Eckerton Hill Farm. This farm is the CSA where Lauryn gets her winter and summer CSA shares. She does an amazing job each week to explain how they use their fresh produce. Collard green enchiladas, need I say more. Eckerton Hill Farm has been in existence for 15 years, first on a rooftop in Brooklyn and now in the Oley Valley in PA. Their slogan is “Home of the Tomato People,” so naturally my little Tomato felt right at home running through the fields and checking out the animals. Farmer Tim Stark is well known for the heirloom tomatoes that they harvest and they have been hosting Dinners in the Dell, where folks can eat right in the fields.

After a great walk through the fields and talking with some of the farmers, we had a picnic and hopped back into our cars to get to the Rodale Institute. Rodale has been on my bucket list of places to visit. As the home of organic gardening in America, Rodale hosts an Organic Apple Festival in the fall and had their plant sale a few weeks ago. Open Houses at Rodale are a great way to see the grounds and purchase gardening goodies from their gift shop. We picked up a ton of plantlings and looked at some new organic fertilizer options.

If you are looking to visit Rodale, there will be a Best Kept Secrets Tour from June 14-29 to see some of the gems in Berks County and Rodale will be a stop. Tickets are $7 a person and details are here. I am anxious to head back and take a full tour and watch Tomato run through the orchard to pick apples in the fall.

Our final stop for the day was at Glick’s Greenhouse. Lauryn and I were laughing that we were being good and not buying out the place. With all of the new flower bed potential that I have, I need to buy perennials slowly and think about bloom times, colors and heights before I go too crazy. I did get some coreopsis and phlox for the front yard and love the contrast of pinks, blues and purples.

If you want to see what Barb picked up on our outing, she has a post about Glick’s and a post about Eckerton Hill and Rodale. I am looking forward to more farm adventures with these ladies this summer! Barb’s post about Glick’s also happens to be our featured post of the week, so be sure to check it out.