Saturday we needed to pick up our meat order. Back in March we ordered almost 200 pounds of grass-fed beef and pork from a local farmer. Since driving an hour to the butcher and then driving another hour to come home right away didn’t seem like fun, we decided to take a side trip and visit the farm and pick the first peaches of the season.
Hollin Farm in Delaplane, Virginia is a wonderful farm. The Hollin family raises beef and pork, as well as tends their peach orchard, berry bushes and vegetable gardens. They sell their grass-fed meats in bulk, and their produce is all pick-your-own.
The landscape view was tremendously beautiful.
We are going to have to return another time for the blackberries…sadly, they weren’t quite ripe…the bushes were taller than I am! Blackberry jam…yumm.
The kids had such fun touching those peaches hanging on each tree. Really an entirely different experience than seeing them stacked in the grocery store, or sliding out of a can. I asked Tyler what was on the trees and he exclaimed, “PEACHES! I LOVE PEACHES!”
We ended up picking two bags full. That is about how long a toddler’s attention will last. We gave one bag to my in-laws with a disclaimer that the toddler-touched-fruit could be a bit bruised. Little Miss liked to drag her bag along the ground after her as she romped around the orchard. 
We stopped in Stephens City at the butcher, Gore Meats. This family business has been working for generations butchering and preparing meats for sale. We get to pick up our order neatly packaged and labeled, and frozen.
After loading up three Igloo coolers we were on our way.
As parents we really enjoyed sharing with our children where their food comes from. My son must think that the behind the grocery store doors is where food magically appears. He and my daughter were both amazed that food does indeed grow on trees. The peaches were juicy enough for even my most picky eater to enjoy.
P.S. I didn’t get to take a picture of the steaks we grilled for the 4th. I believe we will be doing more grilling in the coming weeks and I’ll leave a note here on the blog about how our meats turned out. As for the Independence day rib steaks, second to none! Happy belated 4th everyone.
