Ladysmith, BC: Cranberry Farm, Herb Farm, Etc.

After our pub lunch, we drove off in search of Yellow Point Cranberry Farm. I've always wanted to see a cranberry bog - you know, the men in the waders up to their knees or thighs in cranberries floating like round garnets and rubies all around them.

Here is what a real live cranberry growing on a vine on the ground looks like.

And here is what the cranberry field looks like before it is flooded - and, unfortunately, I didn't get to see it flooded because they weren't going to start that process until October!! Wahhhhh! But it takes 3 days to flood their fields at Yellow Point and then only 1 day to harvest (mostly for Ocean Spray) the berries which float to the top (the bad berries sink to the bottom) and are corralled and gathered and cleaned and sorted, etc.

A gorgeous view, but not what I wanted. I wanted to see the Ocean Spray guys wading in the cranberry bogs. Guess I'll have to go to Maine or Wisconsin (I heard they have lots of cranberry bogs, too). I bet you have to be there on just the right week, though, or you miss it.

This beautiful machine was, I believe, for juicing the cranberries. Can't remember now but I did see machines for sorting, cleaning, and readying the cranberries for packing. The wood in this was lovely and it was so sturdy I imagine it being used still decades from now, if not centuries.

We did buy some small jars of cranberry marmelade but the nice man at the Vancouver International Airport took mine away - too large to take on the plane :(

After the cranberry farm we toured Hazelwood Herb Farm and got our fill of smells - I loved walking through the many types of rosemary, sniffing each one, rubbing the scent on my hands. Love it! The couple who own and run the herb farm make their own soaps, jams, lotions, etc. - just about anything you can think of - from the herbs they grow. I bought some soaps that are too pretty to use and smell heavenly!

Then on the way back to Qualicum, we stopped at French Creek, a working harbour town.

These are not tourist boats but working fishing boats, going out in the early mornings to catch whatever fish they can catch.

Then back to Susan's for "a cuppa," and a nice slice of something sweet - and to give Teddy a few pats and hugs.