Well after a full week of rain the sun finally came out for our Asparagus Festival. The yard was still muddy and the road to the field was soft but at least it wasn’t raining. On Saturday we had lots of people show up and enjoy all the things to do. We had our petting zoo, a bale fort, an large sand box filled with dry peas a lots of toys. We had hand water pump duck races for adults and the kids. At the children’s area there was story time, coloring, and they could even plant a bean to take home. In the adult education area you could look over a large grain combine, look taste, and feel different kinds of grain, hay, straw, and silage. You could even taste some malted barley that was ready to go to the brewery to be made into beer.
They also had a lot of samples of good from the grocery store that were made with commodities made on the farm (for example” Smarties”) We had the head chef Andrew and his wife Jen from River Cafe in Calgary cooking Asparagus on an open wood fire. We also had several different artisan booths selling every thing from wooden bowls, paintings, ceramics and even homemade perogies. You could watch the asparagus being sorted, bundled, and washed in the processing shed. The Bowden Sunmaze had a bale maze for the kids to play in. The wagon ride was a popular event and allowed everyone to go to the field, watch the asparagus being picked. You could also bend pick and eat a fresh asparagus spear right from the field.