i will begin with quoted from boggy creek's website:
“Please leave dogs* and cigarettes ** in the car, but feel free to wander the gardens and visit the Hen House. Kids may enjoy playing in the dirt pile under the shady pecan tree, so have them dress accordingly.”
and
“Between us we have three children and wonderful grandchildren. They all love the farm, but are happily ensconced in their own lives. Although our grandkids can't be here every day, the children of our farm stand customers come on market days and play in the sand pile and observe the chickens. It's a wonderful thing to be able to share the farm with the next generation. “
So my tale beings two days ago when we (two friends and I ) decided to NOT to to Sweet Berry farms to pick strawberries, but instead go to our more local Boggy creek. Although i am an native Austinite, i have never been there. The web site made it sound great! So we went. Upon arrival it is overcast and has been sprinkling on and off all day. There are a few customers milling about, but everything is very tame. I purchase one box to pick strawberries in, and three small cabbages. 16 $ yikes! The strawberries alone were 5$ for a pint!!...” ok, this is for the experience, “ i tell myself , “the kiddos are loving this and i am supporting a local farm!
We pick, we buy (20 minutes) then we sit in the grass next to bench (put there to sit on/by i assumed) my four children are all within grabbing distance from me and we are munching on strawberries and pretzels...then up walks someone who works there and says “here”, handing us a slip of paper.. i am thinking it's like an invite or something..oh naivety!...It's not. The paper reads something like this. Peoples kids are not near their parents. Market days are too crowded. You need to just buy your stuff and leave.
I was FLABERGAUSTED to say the least. VERY FEW people (families) drive to farmers market, or FARMS to buy food and leave..especially when it is horribly overpriced and not even that good (the strawberries are actually bland as all get out). You go for the farm experience. I look at the chickens, play in the dirt, have a snack. This slip of paper was handed out to the other families sitting around, who had also just purchased many things.
Is it just me, or is anyone else sick of this pervasive cultural attitude of keeping children out of societal view...wouldn't want to bother people with CHILDREN now...sheesh. Where can i take my kiddos and be welcomed?? playscapes seems to be the only option. It makes me sad to see a generation of children growing up kept away from real life experiences to convienience s.
So, Boggy Creek- if you don't want children to be at your farm except for a 15 minute purchasing window, i think I will just opt to go the grocery store where i can get strawberries 1.99 a pound. And, maybe you should post your little “message” on your website, so more people will know when they are not welcome. Today was my first and certainly LAST visit.
-Liz Paparella
5 comments:
hope you forwarded your post to them directly!!
Sorry, and it was all my idea. :(
Sweet Berry Farm was really not entirely worth the $25 drive though.... I promise.
From what I've heard, Boggy Creek has been inundated recently with moms and their kids who come and stay for upwards 4 hours on nice day, buy very little and take up parking spaces of customers who are there just to shop. The place is a business, not a day care center. They are fine with families coming, taking a look around hanging out for a short while and then leaving.
Those strawberries are not bland by the way and worth every penny. Do you know what goes into growing quality organic fruits and vegetables? I buy almost 100% of my family groceries from Boggy Creek (and local farmer's markets) and am glad they are here.
oh please.... i buy almost ALL organic, the berries were very bland. and we had only been there about 30 minutes, and had spent 16 $.
i most certainly was not using them for a daycare, i was with my kids, and my kids were behaving fine and right by my side.
AND the owners never took the time to respond to my email. so i have very little sympathy for them!
I am also familiar with Boggy Creek and the situation that has been going on with people bringing their picnic blankets out and camping out for hours. I'm sure that they weren't picking on your kids, specifically - it sounds like they were behaving fine. I think they were just handing out the papers to everyone, just to let them know what the rules and expectations are. They weren't singling you out. Someone else posted on their blog that "kids are welcome, stay as long as you want, there's no admission fee and you don't even have to buy anything", so they've been inundated with people coming just to "hang out" for hours, taking up parking and not buying anything. As for the strawberries, you have to come early in the day to get the good, red, ripe ones. Recently, they have had some people come late in the day, when all of the ripe ones were already picked from the field and then BEG to go pick more, even though they were warned that all the best ones were already gone. I can tell from your photo that the ones that you received were not ripe. Go earlier next time! It's worth it, because the ripe ones are out of this world. I would really urge you to try it again, with an open mind. Sometimes unfortunate things can happen that can cause a bad impression and I'm very sorry that you had this experience, but Boggy Creek is truly an Austin treasure. The farmers were having a tough time that day and were losing some of their most loyal customers because the parking lot was full of "campers" and reacted in the only way that they could think of. By the way, it's wonderful work that you're doing and I hope that you are able to help some of the kids from the San Angelo area. Good luck.
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