The Saskatoon Farm

As the title says, we visited a working farm and tourist destination in Southern Alberta on Monday. Aptly named The Saskatoon Farm, this family farm offers access to a massive saskatoon berry u-pick. They have expanded over the years to offer greenhouses, a farmer’s market, a general store, baked goods, souvenirs, and even an authentic Mexican restaurant.

I honestly didn’t understand why my wife would want to go to a saskatoon farm before the berries were ready, and then we got there and I saw the fake main street and was like, “OHHHHH.” It is one heck of a setup.

They obviously grow a lot of product in their greenhouses early on in the year. Later in the year the greenhouse spaces can be rented for weddings and parties.

They have some oddball entertainment ranging from a vintage bucking horse ride to a pen with six or seven live tortoises slowly bopping around it. The bucking horse is probably just for show, but I kind of hope it isn’t. I’m pretty sure no one will provide liablity insurance for it.

We were interested in trying the restaurant, but as it turned out neither of us was hungry. It was a shame because the farm’s website says they have so many Mexican employees that they wound up opening an authenic Mexican restaurant so their staff could cook and serve their recipes from home.

There were also Bantam chickens and roosters, old cars, trucks, and tractors, trees and flowers for sale, clothing for sale, vintage furniture, antiques, artwork, etc. We easily spent at least an hour and a half wandering around, including checking out the fabulous river valley view.

I didn’t get as many pictures as I had wanted to. I was using my recently rediscovered Canon Powershot G1X and it turns out that its older batteries have developed some character. They’re now good for twenty shots each, at best. New batteries are on order and I’ll have to recycle the dead ones. I could have gone back to my car for my phone or the camera bag with Ray’s 7D, but it was too hot and I was playing out. We needed to get back on the road and more importantly sit in air conditioning for a while.

The Saskatoon Farm is worthwhile as an afternoon jaunt, especially since admission is free. Lots to look at, there are interesting things to buy, and there are even saskatoons to pick if you get there at the right time of year.

The camera used for this shoot was a Canon Powershot G1X.