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Soda Creek Sweet Corn is open and ready for picking corn, vegetables and herbs

Soda Creek Sweet Corn is located at the historic Dunlevy Ranch half an hour north of Williams Lake
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Gaeil Farrar photos Dan and Cecile James visit the Soda Creek Sweet Corn u-pick farm three times a season to pick up corn, vegetables and herbs, often with their grandchildren Ethan, 5, and Lily, 4.

The corn is as high as the eyes of the two beautiful horses in the yard at Soda Creek Sweet Corn and many of the vegetables are also ready for the picking.

Dan and Cecile James, along with their grandchildren Ethan, 5, and Lily, 4, were among a steady flow of visitors to the historic Dunlevy Ranch located about a half an hour north of Williams lake via Highway 97 where the u-pick farm is located and run by the Kaufman family.

The James family has been coming to the farm for many years to pick corn, vegetables and herbs.

They make at least three trips to the farm each year.

The first trip is made to pick several dozen cobs of corn which they deliver to family and friends on the way home to eat fresh from the cob.

The second trip they pick corn for the freezer, and go into the large garden to pick vegetables.

There are all kinds of vegetables coming on to pick including beets, broccoli, cauliflower, eggplant, tomatoes, carrots, peas, peppers, potatoes, various squash, slicing and pickling cucumbers and even celery.

U-pick corn comes in two varieties, their special sweet corn and peaches and cream.

The James family shuck the corn in the field leaving the leaves and wrappings to be mulched back into the soil.

For freezing the corn Cecile recommends a double bagging system to prevent freezer burn.

She blanches the corn then slices the kernels from the cob. She fills several small bags with the kernels, then puts three or four of the small bags into a large freezer bag.

“It never gets freezer burned that way,” Cecile says.

On their third trip to the farm, in addition to corn and vegetables they pick herbs such as parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme from the herb garden.

Cecile says they also deliver corn to friends in Kamloops.

If people really want to make a day of their adventure to Soda Creek Sweet Corn they could take a circle tour via the Old Soda Creek Road off Mackenzie Avenue as I accidentally did Saturday, getting lost and fortunately having local ranchers, who were growing corn for their cattle, point me in the right direction.

The trip was humbling to say the least. For miles and miles along both sides of the road there is burned out forest from the wildfires.

And in clearings you can see more miles and miles of fire ravaged forest across the Fraser River. Down in the valley one can also see plumes of smoke rising periodically.

The shear power of Mother Nature in action filled me with awe and brought me to tears at the same time.

There are lots of steep hills down and up and sharp windy corners on this gravel road so prepare to go slow if you make the trip a circle tour and take the road that says to Highway 97 when you get to the fork in the road on the section of the Old Soda Creek Road accessed from Mackenzie Avenue in Williams Lake.

Soda Creek Sweet Corn opened last Wednesday. Check their Facebook page for vegetables as they become ready for picking in the coming weeks and the map on how to get there. Many vegetables such as tomatoes, peas, chard, beets, pickling cucumbers, slicing cucumbers, zucchini, eggplant and other vegetables are already ready for the picking.

There are big signs on Highway 97 pointing to the turn-off (left off Highway 97 from Williams Lake) to 5842 Soda Creek-Macalister Road where Soda Creek Sweet Corn u-pick is located.