Adirondack Harvest Challenge Accepted! Meet the Winners

On Saturday, September 19 we hosted the Adirondack Harvest Festival. Due to COVID-19 precautions we took the opportunity for a new format for the annual festival, and went “Free Range” with online and self-guided in-person activities including a scavenger hunt. Local mom Bridgett and her family were the winners of our scavenger hunt with her daughter Ellie and pup Mitchell. Bridgett shares how her day went with us. Thanks again to all of our partners, sponsors and community members who made this year’s event possible!

I was ecstatic to find out I was a winner of the Adirondack Harvest Festival scavenger hunt this year! Now, be aware…my husband plans scavenger hunts for my birthdays, anniversaries and holidays; even our marriage proposal! So it wasn’t a surprise that when I found out about the Adirondack harvest challenge, I was immediately on board. Unfortunately my husband was working the one Saturday he does a month and I would be completing this with my almost 2 year old Ellie and one of our dogs, Mitchell. 

We started the day with the trivia games online. Ok, round 1, we got this Ellie…..and ….”TIME’S UP, you missed the first question”.  Oh no, I had to be quick, sorry Ellie, I’ll give you a recap when we are done. With a baby, a 10am suggested start time for the Champlain Area Trails (CATS) hike was perfect. Not realizing that it was a 5 mile hike until I arrived and received a map. Ha! We had just hiked St. Regis Mountain the day before. Not to say that I am in bad shape, but we only just moved to this area 2 years ago, so let’s just say, “I’m working on it”.  I had a little fear of taking a hike without my husband in case something were to happen or we have an ultra-meltdown from Ellie who would be in a backpack carrier. I was immediately comforted by seeing others who showed up at Ledge Hill Brewery at 10am.  I was happy to see such a range of ages which immediately made me think of my own mother who is moving to Westport in a few weeks. Knowing that there are people that care enough to make these trails for entire families to enjoy, makes living in this area very much worth it.

So we started the trail at 10:09am and made our way to the Viall’s Crossing and by 10:20 Ellie was asleep, granola bar in hand. I was keeping an eye open to catch some wildlife for my bonus point pictures, just hoping not to see a bear. But we did find a porcupine and I was very happy Mitchell was on a leash! I very much appreciated seeing a selfie booth during the hike. I am a huge proponent of social media for small businesses and local events so of course I will take my picture with my sleeping baby #hikecats #champlainareatrails #hikeadk #hikeNY #adklife …..I digress. A much better picture of us was taken and posted on their IG page by a very nice CATS organizer who I happened to meet at the brewery and then at the Wood and Swale Trail and again as I popped out onto Lake Shore Rd; also it was very helpful that he gave me an update on where I was so I didn’t disturb my sleeping Ellie by getting the map out of my pack.

Eventually we made it back to Ledge Hill Brewery feeling awesome and was able to get a delicious Polish hot dog with a maple apple sauce from Papa Dukes BBQ.

Next, I had mapped out multiple farms to check out that I had just learned about from the trivia games and the harvest festival website. My plan was squashed by a baby meltdown so we headed home. By the time my husband returned home and the baby woke up, it was time to make dinner, or should I say heat up dinner since we received our weekly DaCy Meadow Farm delivery the day before and had lots of goodies to eat. 

Finally, I had made it to the Whallonsburg Grange Hall and got my Farmer’s Cone Creamery, Plum Ginger ice cream which is up there on my top 3 of their flavors (spicy honey peanut is my favorite). I was able to do some research on the movie Inhabit and afterwards feeling very motivated and finding myself wanting to do a bigger part in my community to help make it a better place. Since then, we’ve purchased a composter to cut down on our contribution to the transfer station and to help our garden grow, win-win.

So my day was made, and my heart is full knowing we live in an area where there’s so much love for the earth and desire for our well-being as a whole that I know raising my daughter here is the right thing to do.

Thank you Adirondack Harvest team for putting this together!

Did you miss the in-person events this year? The virtual tours, trivia, and online exhibits can be found online here.