Chowin' Down on Farm Grown Veggies

A couple days ago, I ran across a new pick your own farm facebook page in the Dallas area, and I couldn't have been more excited. My boys and I have done a couple blueberry picking farms in the area, but most are quite a bit away, and don't feature vegetables other than fruits or pumpkins, or they don't have the option to pick-your-own.

Pure Land Organic is a new-ish, budding farm located on the back farm roads of McKinney, TX. The facebook post I saw mentioned that they would have tomatoes for picking on Thursday and Friday of the week from 9-12. I suddenly had visions of my mom canning my grandma's southern chow-chow relish in our steamy summer kitchen in NC; and a wild hair was born. I would pick those tomatoes and I would make relish. This whole thing is very ironic since as a kid I hated every single ingredient you'd find in this relish (except sugar), but I digress.

I knew this little adventure was straight up C's alley, so Friday morning, we loaded up with sunscreen and bug repellent and set out on the journey to the exotic farm afar. Afar meaning- from my house in NW Frisco, it was about a 25 minute drive. HAHA!

I entered the address- 7505 County Road 201 into GPS and it worked great, and I didn't have any issues finding it other than Siri waits to long to tell you to turn. The scenery was great as we slipped away into the "country" and breathed a little sigh of relief. The weather unexpectedly cooperated in that it was fairly overcast- the sun started to peek through a bit while we were there, but over all, it wasn't too bad for the last day of June in Texas.

We turned into the one-way driveway into the farm, and were greeted by an old farm looking building  containing a tractor and a white tent set up to the side. There were about 5 or so cars parked in the grass- so not too busy. I was immediately greeted by whom I can only assume was one of the farmers- (Megan?) and she was so friendly, helpful and excited to see us.

There were several rows of tomatoes for picking- $3 per pound and a bucket was around $5, and you could choose red or green, regular ones or cherry ones. She did have small scissors on hand for cutting the peppers and explained how to pick the tomatoes properly. We filled one with the green tomatoes for the relish, one with red for other stuff, and then moved on to the bell pepper row. I picked the most humongous green bell peppers for my relish, as well as some beautiful purple ones that I didn't even know existed. The final row in the garden was the hot pepper row with jalapeno and shishito peppers. We took a few shoshito with hopes to recreate a dish we've had at a restaurant recently.

As I checked out, (and she does take cash and cards via square- and I always spend too much so used the card)- I added a bucket of onions, red onions, and garlic at $2 per pound. All were nicely cured and with smooth tight skins and no bruising. Nothing like you'd see in the store- so much better. I chatted quite a bit with the farmer. She mentioned they had already pulled the carrots. The birds had gotten to the little peach tree orchard this year- but they were thrilled because this was the first year they'd gotten peaches at all- I bet next year will be a great crop. She also mentioned that she has black eyed peas that will be ready for picking in a couple weeks, and she's willing to give those away because they are a "cover crop" to help the soil... Black eyed peas are pretty labor intensive to shell and prepare. But, yes, my family loves them so this southern Grits will be heading back to pick some of those, too. And I found a gadget online that I might add to speed it up. She also mentioned having arugula and kale, so I get the feeling they will keep rotating crops year round.

Look closely at the size of those peppers! 

Chow-Chow used a bunch- here's the leftovers.

Pure Land Organics also farms out to several area restaurants known for their organic and local menu selections. There are lots of farms in the area, but pick-your-owns are not as prolific and I learned from her that it's probably because getting liability insurance for agri-tourism is kind of a new and weird thing. Thank goodness she found someone to do it, because all our kids should be seeing where our food comes from! She mentioned that they are open for field trips, and scout outings; and I plan to keep checking in on this little farm in the days to come, until I can have my own big garden one day.

Before visiting, check their facebook page for the most up-to-date picking times.

I wish I had gotten more thorough information and her name, and better pictures, but honestly, I didn't plan to blog about this- it just kinda happened. So sorry and I'll try to do better in the future. This blogging thing is turning into quite a time-consuming hobby but I love it!

In the mean time, I've canned that relish- it's cooling and I can't wait to enjoy it over the Fourth of July holiday. Happy Fourth, ya'll! Enjoy your barbeques!

Ain't no party like a 40th party cause a 40th party don't stop.....

So, some of you might know that a group of my neighbors like to kick off summer in grand fashion, and in years past, we've had some pretty epic EOY (end of year) parties. It all started a few years ago when Paige decided throw an amazing block party to kick off summer. Every year those parties got bigger and bigger and more and more involved to plan. Paige moved on to another neighborhood a couple years ago, but the tradition continued.

This year, my kiddos were on the way out age-wise for the types of parties we've done in the past- games, bounce houses, etc; and also we were getting a little tired of putting in the time to plan and run. We usually started planning super early, and this year got away from us and suddenly it was May! I was about to pull out of the whole thing when the other two EPP's (epic party planners), Angela and Cristi suggested that we do a destination party instead. Easy-peasy! No planning, no problem! The problem came in choosing a place. We briefly talked about Broken Bow, OK but then ruled that out for a variety of reasons, with cabin scarcity being an issue at that time of year and with that short of notice. I wanted to go to Schlitterbahn (um, one of my favorites, and I'll have to blog about that later); but we all agreed that 5 hours down and back was not fun for a short weekend stay. 

So, our local options were Great Wolf Lodge, Gaylord, or they mentioned the Hilton Anatole. I haven't been to GWL- I'm sure it's fun, but pretty pricey, and definitely more kid driven; we wanted adult stuff to do too. I've stayed at the Gaylord, but wasn't sure about the water park because I hadn't done it, and again, pretty pricey. I was thinking, why in the world would we go hang out at a HILTON with our kiddos, until Cristi says, "Oh, it's got a waterpark." I had no clue that was the case- I thought it was just a convention hotel in DT Dallas, but that changed everything! Turns out they renovated everything last summer and put in a pretty sizeable water park. They must've figured out they were losing some business to JW Marriott in the Hill Country because that place is the bomb, and I need to blog on that too. 

It was my birthday weekend, so I would be sharing this celebration with the kiddos- so my vote was heavy in the direction of Hilton Anatole so that we could use Hilton points since the weekend was likely to get expensive with everything else. (Regular rates range from $189 and up a night). Fortunately, the other EPP's agreed with me on the Hilton and we were off. 

It is also a tradition that every year the EOY (End of Year) party is nearly cancelled because of the threat of rain and storms. We have been lucky every year- but last year; we moved it and it didn't rain (of course). This year was no exception and the threat of weather loomed, and we had the added bonus of baseball challenges with tournaments looming the whole weekend. I'm thankful that we are not a baseball family anymore because this control freak could not stand the unpredictability. Turns out baseball tournaments were not the problem since it rained cats and dogs on Friday. Days before hand, we had to decide whether it would be worth it to burn through the points since we would also have to board the dogs, and who wants to sit in a hotel room all weekend with your kids while it rains? We decided to take a chance and keep the reservation.

24 hour period from Friday to Saturday evening. That's a little rain.

Turns out, we're glad we did! Yes, the rain was coming down sideways when we checked in Friday afternoon; but the hotel had so many other options and the kids just love staying at a hotel anyway. And Moms and Dads all got to hang out in the lobby and have drinks, play cards with random people later, and hang out guilt free! It was an EOY with little planning and almost "built in babysitting". EPP's for the WIN! 

You can read my full and thorough review of the hotel and the restaurants on Trip Advisor, here. Here are a few ways we saved money during our stay (and you will want to do that because everything is kind of overpriced): 

1.  Kids under 12 eat free with each adult entree purchase at Media Grill and the Counter Bar. We used this on Saturday night to get meals for my two sons (teen and pre-teen) so that they could stay in the room and/or go to the movie while we went to dinner. $16 out the door, versus $100 I heard someone paid for two burgers  and drinks through room service. 
2. Free breakfast in the Gossip Bar for Hilton Honors members and snacks in the Executive Lounge (although, based on other reviewer's experiences, I'm not sure if this was a weekend thing). We took advantage of this both days. 
3. Free water stations around the pool, and the wait staff was always on hand to bring waters. Also, you can bring bottled water and personal tumblers in. Some mentioned that their bags were checked, but that was not the case for me any of the times that I went in with a bag.
4. While you could not bring food or beverages (besides water), there were picnic tables outside the pool area. We didn't use them because we didn't think of it, frankly, but others did. 
5. Biggest money saver of all was that we knew we would have two mini fridges in our suite. So, since I knew I'd have 3 teenagers and a pre-teen, I made an $80 Target snack run that paid for itself for the price of one hotel meal. I stocked up on chips, tortilla chips and salsa, pb&J, bread, mayo, mustard, pop tarts, donuts, lunch meat, veggie tray, cheese and pepperoni tray, hummus, cheese, lettuce and tomato, soda, a two gallon jug of water, and a million other goodies that teenage boys might eat. I felt like either the worst or the best mom ever at that checkout line. You decide. We took a break mid-day at the pool to run up and eat lunch. That cooler of food was worth it, and they even had leftovers. With two mini fridges, we could have easily packed more. Don't forget paper plates, cups, forks, napkins! I remembered everything except knives and napkins. Somehow the kids went through all the cups playing soda pong though. 
6. We kept a stash of wine, beer, mineral waters and other beverages locked in our king bed room. 
7. Use a personal tumbler if you are hanging out with a beverage in the lobby, or you will get called out. 
8. Side note, apparently the coffee in the hotel is terrible. I'm not a coffee drinker but so many people mentioned it. So I would add that to your shopping list and maybe make it in the room. 

My son bragged to me this morning that he only spent $3 at the hotel and that was because he wanted a Hershey bar. I like that frugality, son! 

Jade Waters features splay/slide area, water slides, lazy river, water b-ball; swim up bar and more. 

We brought a Switch and Classic Nintendo gaming system that the boys could use.

Hilton Anatole a prime choice if you need a place to celebrate for a summer event (like a 13th or 16th birthday party) and want to stay local. 

Saturday and Sunday's weather ended up being great. While hanging out at the swim up pool bar, us adults decided that 40th birthdays are supposed to be celebrated all year, so I'm just going to roll with it. What's next? Cheers y'all!