Trying to keep the winter chill at bay I'm thinking back to Thanksgiving and fall harvest. It's a time of year when locally grown delectables migrate from field to table. Here in Nova Scotia we savour apples, pears, grapes and pumpkins - freshly ripe and harvest ready. Town and city folk day trip to the province's plentiful u-pick fields and orchards to revel in earthy tones and sunburst skies.
Family roadtrips to agricultural sweet spots are a seasonal highlight. Country air, succulent fruit, fresh produce - what's not to love? For many kids these farms are next level kind of encounters. On fairweather days, landscapes glisten green under a never ending canvas of blue. In the orchards young voices ring out as children explore the outdoors grabbing low hanging snacks on the run.
On top of the delicious fare there's freewheeling play. DIY designs with an adventure playgroundesque feel, equipment long since cashiered by most municipalities, the occasional daredevil challenge and some wonderful low tech installations that light up faces. As the old saying goes, 'you reap what you sow' and there's a lot of organic fun sprouting up on these inviting play environments. This is Harvest Gold Farm Play.
Dempsey Corner Orchards
Since our inaugural visit, the twirling tractor tire, spinny spinner swing at Dempsey Corner Orchards has been decommissioned. Squealing laughter was a mainstay as its arcing swish cut through the air - a relatable thrill made possible by a simple, inexpensive design. Other attractions promise dirt, thrills and noise like the multi-colour tire bordered sandpit where an active, discerning crowd is always on the move. Digging, running, jumping and balancing are go to activities.
Around the corner from the main house on the way to the apple trees are a couple of game changer installations we haven't seen anywhere else.
There's a clang-a-bang percussion drop-in with dangling pots, pans and other bric à brac begging to be the bash-boom noise. For these young composers, it's hard to see it getting any better than these high decibel symphonies echoing in the orchards.
At a makeshift home plate knees bend slightly in a familiar batting stance. For those with good eye-hand coordination it’s a popular spot, a slugger's paradise with a limitless supply of fallen fruit. Apples and pears are tossed up in the air and batted to smithereens - watch out for the spray.
Behold the roundabout, aka the merry-go-round, virtually extinct in Nova Scotia municipal playgrounds where they had been fixtures for decades. For many of the visiting kids, this is their first encounter with the dizzy, spinny thrills of centrifugal force. It's quite an attraction for young and old alike.
Excitement builds amid a chorus of laughter as a few goats decide to hop a ride. We can hardly believe our eyes. It's merriment central. On subsequent visits, sheep get in on the action too. Goats and sheep are equally adept at jumping off, truly domesticated!
Riverbreeze Farms
Play and produce go hand in hand at Riverbreeze Farms. An intricate maze takes shape within acres of cornfields creating whispering green corridors of excitement. With dead ends, footbridges and switchback turns it's a seekers game interpreting clues to find a way out. A bumpy wagon ride away is the pumpkin patch, row on row of orange orbs in furrowed fields. The uneven ground offers some good balance challenges and of course a chance to get dusty and dirty in the rich earth.
There is plenty of additional fun beyond the maze lands. The 'jump pillow' is a jump, run, roll then jump again kind of place. Kids just can't get enough and are loathe to leave. The air cushioned bounce makes sprinty sprints faster and sproingy sproinging so much higher. Imagine Tigger's coiled tail letting loose here, he would have a heyday! We've never seen a jump pillow anywhere else in our travels, small wonder as a large model like this one at Riverbreeze clocks in at about $20,000.
There is more exciting fare to explore like the side-by-side plastic drain pipe slide twins and the hay bales mini-maze that can be navigated at a meandering ground level or by leaps and bounds at super speed. To top it all off is a ride through the farm fields on an open air train pulled by a mighty four wheeler.
We make away with a couple of choice pumpkins and head back to the city....
Hennigar's Farm Market
A stone's throw from heavy traffic on Wolfville's main street is Hennigar's Farm Market, a green oasis on the town's outskirts. A small, beached Cape Islander next to shade trees and a rippling pond is securely settled on a sandbar. A selection of heavy duty excavation toy trucks and diggers are scattered about ready for play.
An unanchored playground plane momentarily amuses the three kids. They teeter-totter on the wingtips bringing weight to bear on the tail. It's clearly meant for younger children but they're happy to commandeer the plastic and steel tubing for a short flight. There are no other passengers waiting to board so I just sit back and enjoy the sibling antics.
Then its the Break Neck Hill tricycle slalom on undersize bikes. Bruised egos are the only injuries suffered by the intrepid riders.
On the way out, we walk past the beached fishing boat. Green is popping everywhere we look, so many shades including the reflections in the pond's mirror stillness. A lovely fun stop - laughter, lightness and beauty - timeless moments.
Noggins Corner Farm Market, Greenwich, NS
Reaching the summit of Tire Mountain isn't too taxing. Adventurous two-year-olds with a spotter in tow can make it to the top. There are plenty of purchases to pull up and push off. From the peak, an expansive vista of the Noggins Corner Farmer Market opens up. The tires are precisely positioned with slopes stretching upward and tunnels traversing the base. This seeming jumble is a well executed DIY design diverting a small number of used tires from recycling depots. and extending their lives as purveyors of joy and adventure. For a modest amount of money, it could be argued that this 'waste' rivals, and in fact beats, any standard equipment in most municipal playgrounds nowadays.
Public play on select farms in Nova Scotia is a welcome addition to what is available in municipal play spaces. These niche play zones are a breath of fresh air. Where else can these kind of play environments flourish?
The kids are all teens now but they're still not too old for a trip out of the city and down to the farm. I'm raring for the seasons to cycle round to the next harvest.
Thanks to all the farmers for thinking of the kids