OcalaMom.com

So my husband is out of town so it will just be me and my daughter (2 years old) all weekend. Does anyone know of anything cool going on anywhere that we could do? Festivals, shows, anything? Thanks!

Blueberry season should have started last week so you could go picking and then bake something blueberry, too!
(Speaking of which, I need to call the place we've gone to since before I was even a fetus and see if they're ready for picking....)

Or if you're up for a little drive (Haile isn't that bad if you just go up the interstate and get off at the Archer Rd -- or even Newberry -- exit.)

http://events.ocalamom.com/gainesville-fl/events/show/8...anters-farmers-tours

This is supposed to be pretty fun from what I understand.

Thank you Elizabeth, I really appreciate it. I'm not sure if the railroad tour would be as fund for her as she just turned 2 (only 8 days younger than Jodi). But, the blueberry picking sounds great! Please help me if you know of any locations as I've never gone before. Thanks again!

lol -- Jodi is into cars, busses, semis, trains, etc... so I think she'd like it. She spends entire car rides (I started grad school recently so am commuting to Gainesville) discussing the semis, etc... and spends all sorts of time w/ the babysitter on campus looking at the busses. All while wearing prissy pink ballet shoes. So I figure she'd like trains, too.
She got to ride the bus last week to get back to the car after my clinicals at a hospital and she thought that was super.

Anyway -- I heard recently of a place here to pick, and I've seen signs near Island Grove (?) and Micanopy for U-pick places open now.

We've always only gone to Longnecker's in Earleton (near Melrose). They sold it a couple of years ago to their neighbors w/ a blueberry place already -- Southland's. They even have some certified organic berries if that matters to you.

And to make up for the drive (it's actually not that bad -- we just go straight up 301 and it's not far off of that) there is a really good produce stand on the way -- Brown's produce. We always stock up on peas, some of their field flowers, okra, watermelon, etc...

Southland's number is (352) 468-2087

Addy is 9308 NE CR 1469 in Earleton

(OK -- so don't everybody go take all the berries before I manage to get up there, lol.)
They give you buckets (and have little ones for kids to wear) and send you off in the bushes to go pick. You pay per pound (but fortunately they don't weigh *you* before and after picking.

That sounds great! Ava loves to be outside so I think she would enjoy something like this. If anyone else is interested, I found the website below that lists all of the "picking" farms listed by county. There must be 20 in Marion County. Thanks!

http://www.pickyourown.org/FLnorth.htm