Fall Fun at the Farm

Fall is here and so is the opportunity to get outside and play! Yesterday, my husband and I took our two youngest grandchildren (ages 5 and 3) to Flax Pond Farm in Carver (MA). We all love cranberries and this is the main product this farm produces. It was the first day of harvesting and we were treated to a tour of the bogs and a demonstration of processing cranberries for sale.

Then we went to their shop to have some fresh cranberry juice and look at all the products they sell that use these delightful berries. The kids loved the dried cranberries and we bought some of these and some of the locally-produced cranberry honey.

Why am I writing about this fall adventure on a joy and prosperity blog? Several reasons. First, it was a truly joyful day for all of us and reminded me how many fall activities offer similar pleasures. Second, it didn't cost us a thing - except for what we bought. Third, I really enjoyed spending time with the woman owner who has lived all her life within a mile of this bog - and has been cranberry farming for 33 years. We are big fans of buying local and this was a good opportunity to do so.

Finally, I wanted to share a picture and two facts with you. I always thought the farmers loaded the berries onto trucks to bring them to the processing areas. Imagine my surprise when I learned that this farm uses helicopters to pick up the cranberries and deliver them to Ocean Spray. I was even more surprised that Ocean Spray gets its cranberries from a cooperative of many, small farms like Flax Pond. As a supporter of local produce, this helps assuage my conscience when I do resort to buying cranberries at the supermarket.

My challenge for you this week is to go online, seek out some fall activity in your area, and go out and play!

A Month Without Credit Cards

On August first, I put away my three credit cards and began a journey to see what living life without them would be like. I have never had a problem using credit cards. I don't pay any fees and do pay them in full each month so why did I decide to do this?

For two reasons. First, I am co-facilitating a financial course in my church starting next week and living without credit cards is a basic principle of this program. Thought I would try to do so before I encouraged others on this path. Second, I knew that we all spend more money when using credit rather than cash. Dun and Bradstreet says the average person spends between 12% and 18% more this way.

One thing I had to do immediately was dig out my unused debit card and find out its limits. I do much of my shopping online and I don't like to carry cash, so this was important. I also had to get a debit card for business expenses since I didn't have one. My local bank was helpful in both cases.

A major lesson I learned this month is how unaware I had been about spending. When I only had cash (or its debit card equivalent), I really thought about purchasing things, whether basics like food or extras like books. I became much more aware of the cost of any food we wasted. I also only purchased one book this month... a first for me!

Many more lessons came my way on this journey and my Blog this month will share them with you. I'd love to hear your reaction to this credit-card free path. Try it...you might like it!