Anyone who knows me, knows I’m not much for traveling. Sure there’s a whole world out there, but I’m content to let someone else explore it. Someone needs to stay at home and keep things going – I’d rather be that person!

However, 30 years of marriage warrants a celebration – a trip – or so I was told.

When markets finished at the end of October, Lorie & I caught a flight to Calgary. From there we drove through the Rockies to Vancouver to see our son & daughter-in-law. Then back to Alberta to visit with my brother & sister-in-law. It was great to see family & to visit Vancouver for the first time.

But a highlight of the trip for me was touring around the Okanogan Valley in BC. It was amazing to see farms clinging to the hillsides – fruit orchards & vineyards. Who would dare to climb a ladder to pick cherries when the ground is so steep? And who could even concentrate on work when the views are so stunning?

Cherries are a big crop. The orchards are huge – the farm we visited was around 50 acres of sweet cherries. Others are much larger.  The trees are planted very close together. Because this area is so dry there is far less disease pressure than we experience here in humid Niagara. As a result the cherries are top quality and extremely big & firm. Most of the crop is exported to Asia with only the smaller fruit – which are still usually bigger then our cherries – sold locally.

A young apple orchard.

We stopped at several wineries – to enjoy the views even more than the wine!

Closer to Vancouver, blueberries are the main crop. It’s a poor picture but they looked spectacular in their fall colours of different shades of red. And lots of water standing around – something we didn’t have this summer!

An amazing background to the farms in Alberta, just west of Calgary near Cochrane.

It’s always great to check out other farms & see how they do things. We learn a lot & bring back ideas for our own farm.

And after 2 weeks away it’s good to be home.

I’ll admit I enjoyed our trip a lot! I may even do it again sometime …