Every time I travel I cross-reference my route and the dates of travel with my Pizza Farm Map. There is almost always a way to add a Pizza Farm adventure to whatever else is happening in my life. A trip to Southern Minnesota for a Farm Wedding (which turned out to have some special Fruit Pizza of its own) was a perfect opportunity for me to stop at DreamAcres Pizza Night.
While living in Minneapolis, DreamAcres seemed just a little too far for me to make do all in one Friday. I thought it would be perfect to combine DreamAcres Pizza on the Farm on a Friday with a mini camping trip in the area and then a return for the Picnic Operetta performance at the DreamAcres theater on the following Saturday. But for the past several years, this opportunity, which comes by only once per season, just never worked out. And again, this 2019 season, I don’t think it will work out. But luckily for me, two amazing people celebrated their marriage on the family farm in Mankato and gave me a chance to fit DreamAcres into my summer.
I activated my Pizza Farm Outing Notification system and one loyal Pizza Lover answered the call. My Twin Cities friend, Sarah, made the day trip to DreamAcres that I had never been willing to make, and joined me for a beautiful dinner at the Farm.
I left Chicago a little later than I wanted to on Friday and got lost once or twice, as I predicted, since I know I have a stubborn resistance to GPS. If I had been using GPS, I feel pretty confident that I would not have driven right by the entrance to DreamAcres and added about 30 minutes to my trip trying to re-orient myself. But that is the choice I made. I’d be lying if I said I won’t do it again.
I parked by the Inconvenience Store and made my way up the hill to the Pizza area. The sign on the barn fittingly read, “Welcome Summer.” June in Chicago had been chilly! For several weeks in mid June, the temperatures were consistently well-below average and summer seemed like it wasn’t going to show. But July 5 was everything I could hope for on a summer day. It was sunny and bright with a few puffy, white clouds. Wildflowers were growing along the road and silos and barns and farmhouses interrupted the steady sea of vegetable fields. My route took me through the Driftless Region, the area of the midwest that the glaciers missed and therefore has rolling hills and deep valleys that make for a beautifully scenic drive. And I was on a road trip with 5 days off from work! “Welcome Summer” was a message speaking directly to me.
DreamAcres adjusts their menu to fit a theme and since it was Fourth of July weekend, our 4 vegetarian pizza choices were references to Independence Day. Sarah and her mom were unable to settle on one Pizza option that they would both enjoy, so when I arrived they informed me that they had each ordered their own. There was nothing about the vegetarian sausage, shallot, and chard combination that didn’t sound amazing to me. Nor was there anything to deter me from eating the zucchini, onion, basil, and olive pizza. So I went ahead and helped each of them enjoy their pizza, The Life and The Liberty.
I would have loved to explore even more than I did, but Sarah and I both had other places to go. Someday I still want to execute my plan of combining Pizza on the Farm with Picnic Operetta all in one weekend. That remains one of my Pizza Farm Goals. But for now I am glad that I accomplished the first part of that goal. Thank you, DreamAcres, for a delicious and beautiful summer welcome.
