There is a marquee on the Hart Highway that advertises for the Rainbow Berry Farm that I only half-noticed for the last few weeks. I only half pay attention to small roadside advertisements and usually I only notice the signs advertising an upcoming gun show (I haven't yet been). When I was invited by my cousins to go and pick berries at the Rainbow Berry Farm a few weeks ago, to my surprise, I said yes.
At this point in the summer, I have a tendency to say "no" to most invitations to events and outings because of the heat, the fact that we now have air conditioning in our house, and my general summer malaise. However, I realized recently that I only have a few months left on my maternity leave and I will be complaining about the snow shortly so I had better squeeze out the last bits of fun that summer in Prince George has to offer.
The Rainbow Berry Farm is only open in the month of August and is located down Chief Lake Road, just far enough down the road to make me think that the farm doesn't actually exist. There is something about Chief Lake Road to me that suggests that the longer you drive on it, the more likely you will become horribly lost and never be able to find your way back to town. It doesn't matter that Chief Lake Road is a straight stretch of road, it always seems never-ending to me. However, a short-drive later (ten minutes, tops) found me and my little family at Rainbow Farms.
The farm itself, and please forgive the exclamation point, is cute! Rows and rows of raspberry and Saskatoon berry bushes that you can wander through and pick berries to your hearts content. Best of all, the farm has a playground for your little creatures to play on and trucks to play with. If anyone reading this has ever tried to pick berries with two toddler boys for longer than twelve seconds will appreciate the distraction of the playground. There is also a little farm store where you can buy local honey, jams and jellies.
The berry prices are reasonable ($2.50 / lb) and we ended up picking berries for half an hour before the boys had had their limit of good behaviour. At the end of our little excursion, I had enough raspberries and Saskatoon berries ($6.00 worth) to make a killer pie, much to the delight of my husband. I highly recommend taking a stroll through the farm and heading out there before the farm closes at the end of August. Picking berries in the bush is a very "authentic" Prince George experience, but picking berries at the farm eliminates the brambles scratches on your calves, the possibility of a bear taking umbrage with your berry pilfering and getting lost in the bush.
