Gale Woods Farm Rules!

Minnetrista seems really far away when you don't know where you're going. Last night, I went out to Gale Woods Farm for a canning class. The Farm is part of the Three Rivers Park District, a 27,000 acre park district full of reserves, water, trails, facilities, and, evidently, activities that I only recently discovered and plan to spend lots of time exploring.


Gale Woods Farm is a fully functioning educational farm with sheep, chickens, turkeys, cattle, and gardens set on 410 beautiful acres. The class started at 6:30, which was just about the perfect time to see the farm in the cool of the evening by the orange glow of the setting sun. We got a quick tour of the facilities including the sheep with their trusty sheep dogs, the turkeys which are unwittingly being fattened up for Thanksgiving dinners, the new, still fluffy chicks, and a demonstration bee hive that shows all the hard work the buzzing critters put into the newly harvested honey.

The class itself was really informative. It was a demonstration rather than an interactive class, but as a city girl who'd never even seen the process before, I wanted to see how it actually works before I plunge into doing it myself. I have enough confidence now to give it a go without too much fear of killing anyone. Primary goal of initial canning sessions: keep self, family, and friends alive. Keep checking back for more canning updates.

I'll also be returning to Gale Woods on Saturday when I have my sister's kids for their annual "Breakfast on the Farm," which features locally grown foods. Sweet.