PAPA TRAVELS - THE LAST HERITAGE DAYS FESTIVAL OF THE YEAR AT THE BAKER CREEK HEIRLOOM SEED COMPANY

I am so glad that I didn't miss this one!

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After a long day of travelling and fun, we're back home, and we brought reinforcements for the homestead and garden! Between seed packets and live plants, we did a bit of shopping for sure, but the experience was worth so much more than what we spent!

OFF TO A GREAT START!

This morning we stopped in next door by @bluerthangreen & @allforthegood. After a brief discussion, we chose to take the ferry across Lake Bull Shoals rather than driving all the way around.

This time, we even got to see them adjust the ramp to make sure it was still lining up. With the water level in lake frequently rising and dropping, I suppose adjustments like this happen often, but we had never seen one take place.

It was an excellent day for our two families to cross the lake on the ferry. With a warm sun shining above some beautiful water and scenery to check out, it was a great start to our adventure!

THE GARDENS AT BAKER CREEK

This was the first sight we saw when we pulled up. A large arbor for some amazing gourds to grow on. Some of these were about seven feet long. They were currently sold out of seeds for these in the shop, but it looks like they'll have an excellent harvest, so I'll keep an eye on them online.

With many amazing heirloom seed varieties from all around the world, their gardens are a sight to behold. Check out the "Pumpkin on a Stick Eggplant" in the photo above. I've seen a lot of shapes and sizes of eggplants in my day, but this one was new.

As always, @papa-pepper had to check out the pepper varieties too. I am always impressed with the amount of variety that can be grown. I think that my most for pepper varieties grown in a single season was about twenty, but I hope to at least double that, since I've definitely got the seed varieties for it

Their greenhouse plants include some citrus trees and figs. A few were even hitting the ceiling already. Seeing things like this sure makes we excited about getting my own greenhouse one day.

A few informative signs like the one above were in place in the gardens as well. I think that it is important to understand things like why heirloom seeds are important. For many, there is an actual food war taking place, it's just that too many don't realize it and not many are fighting.

I am a huge advocate for people taking a greater interest in their food supplies, and making sure that one way or another they have a trustworthy food source. This is part of why we are taking more things like this into our own hands.

This is a view that I did not see from this angle on our last visit. It is beautiful to see how much can be done with such a small space. I can't wait to post photos of my own garden looking like this one day.

THE FESTIVAL!

The festival itself was amazing. One feature was that they had bands playing all day long. Needless to say, it was music to my ears. From guitars and basses to mandolins and violins, they kept the music coming. While we only sat down and watched the musicians for a little bit, they still provided some amazing background music for the rest of the activities.

Among the other interesting things to watch, like yarn spinning, we found a blacksmith. Watching someone work such hot metal is always interesting. While I am not sure if this is a skill that I ever pick up, it would be cool to try to learn.

This large pot was used to cook some baked beans on over a fire. Mr. @bluerthangreen was kind enough to even pick some up for us! Thanks man.

There were quite a few interesting people to interact with, and a lot of great vendors to check out. One particular man seemed to be living a very similar life to the one that I am working on, which was encouraging to see. I ended up purchasing a few plants from him, which I will share about in an upcoming post.

The seed store is one of my favorites places to be. It's like a living catalog! While it would nice to be able to check out every packet, we had to pick and choose some to check out, and some to purchase too. It'll be great to try growing some new varieties!

Our little girls thought that buying some bonnets would be a good idea, so we bought them each one. They sure looked cute, and they really enjoyed them.

The bearded man in the photo above and in the cover photo is Mr. David Leroy Kaiser. He has kind of become the "mascot" of Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company, and this was our second time meeting him. We enjoyed picking some edibles from the nearby plants with him, and the @little-peppers even got to feed his donkey.

I'll have to sort through all the plants and seeds that we purchased today, but it was an amazing time and an event to remember. A lot of gardeners were gathered there today, and a great time seemed to be had by all. I'm thinking that @bluerthangreen or @allforthegood may put out a post about the festival too, so you may want to keep an eye on them.

While we did spend some money at the festival, we attended free of charge and even got to cross the lake on a free ferry. Not being one to waster money, it's nice to be able to go places like this for free, and have some great family fun!

As always, I'm @papa-pepper and here's the proof:

proof-i-went-there-today

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Until next time…

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GIF provided by @malos10

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