I didn’t anticipate doing much of anything yesterday, but Adrian went out on an errand and called me from the car to let me know that the Coral Springs GardenFest was going on at Riverside Park, just 5 minutes down the street from our house. I agreed it sounded like a fun activity to do with Zachary, so I got the two of us ready, packed some water since it’s already starting to heat up here in South Florida, and we left the house.

As I pulled up to Riverside Park, I was totally thrilled because this is what I saw! FOOD TRUCKS!!!! If you follow me on twitter you know I’ve been talking about the Miami Food Trucks. It’s kind of a novelty to me and I just love the idea of fun food in a truck.

The trucks on the property were Nacho Mama’s Mexican Grill, Churro Mania, and GrillMaster Cafe. As I was standing around checking them all out, I struck up a conversation with Nick, one of the owners of Nacho Mama’s, and we actually had the chance to talk for a little while. I learned some rather interesting things about the trucks, and Nick and his business partner Ted were kind enough to let me and Zachary on board to give us a tour of the truck! I didn’t take any pictures inside, but next time I might have to ask so I can post about it. It was pretty cool to see the inside of a food truck and learn how it works. Also, for those of you wondering, it is VERY clean in there.

I ordered a super yummy cheese quesadilla from Nacho Mama’s and Nick even gave me some cheese covered tortilla chips for Zachary to munch on! Nacho Mama’s rocks!

For dessert, I picked up some churros from Churro Mania. Only $3 for a pack of 8 churros – can’t beat that. They were delicious and Zachary loved them too!

Anyway, on to the actual GardenFest.

Going to a garden festival is kind of like going to a boutique garden shop. There were so many different kinds of plants that I don’t normally see when I go to garden stores. Plus, there were tons of interesting accessories, handmade garden markers, and lots of independent retailers.

I got to see all kinds of fruit trees including grapefruit and sour orange, plus a Florida peach tree, a fig tree, about a million different kinds of orchids, and different berries, including blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, and strawberries. There were also a few herb varieties I’d never heard of, like African Blue Basil and Creeping Jenny. I didn’t end up purchasing any new plants, but it was overall a very educational experience.

I also enjoyed the opportunity to chat with Joan Kohl, who runs the Sawgrass Nature Center & Wildlife Hospital in Coral Springs (pictured above). Their website describes what they do much better than I can. This is their mission statement:

Our mission is to educate the public about our environment and the many species it contains, and to provide excellent care for sick, injured or orphaned wildlife.

Thankfully Joan was able to shed some light about what to do about Roof Duck, how she might care for her ducklings, and answer my biggest question which was how much longer we’d have to wait until we might see some ducklings (apparently it takes close to a month for eggs to hatch)

Overall we had a great time walking around and taking in the sights of the pretty plants and flowers. GardenFest is a very kid- and pet-friendly event, and while I’m sure Zachary enjoyed looking at the flowers, I know he enjoyed petting all of the dogs even more! 🙂 It’s always fantastic to find great family events right around the corner from home.

If you’re interested in attending GardenFest, you can check out their site for info. They’ll be at Riverside Park again today from 10-4pm.

I captured all of yesterday’s snapshots with my trusty Canon G11 Point & Shoot! 🙂