As clocks fall back and the days shorten, one variable has stayed consistent: warm temperatures. Temperatures have continued to stay in double digits for daytime highs and residents in Simcoe County are taking full advantage. The City of Barrie announced last week that tennis and pickleball nets would be taken down over the weekend except at Painswick Park in South Barrie. Sarah Hood, a pickleball enthusiast is thrilled they can still play pickleball outdoors. “Can’t believe it’s November and we’re still playing, I just love it,” said Hood. “I love the game and I love playing outside.” The nets at Painswick Park will remain up for at least this week. “We’re so excited. Seriously, last year it got so cold in the middle of October,” said Pickleball player Wendy Burke. She added they will play outdoors until they can’t. “We will play as long as we possibly can and a lot of people have their own nets,” said Burke. “We’d go down to the bottom courts and we’d bring our own nets. We will play with coats on.” Meanwhile, as pumpkin season comes to an end, farms are also hard at work completing jobs until the first snowfall. Kevin Ward, owner and operator of Fernwood Farms & Market, said the warm temperatures have broken records. “We broke a record this fall with our fall raspberries that on November 1st, we still were selling our fall raspberries,” said Ward. “That broke a record by a long shot.” The warm conditions are allowing Ward to complete jobs and get ready for spring. “Getting ready for next year, everything that we do in the fall is so important to get ready for next year,” said Ward. “Just packing up the equipment, all the irrigation gets put away properly if fields get packed up properly. That’s what we’re working on today.” And that’s happening all while completing the rest of harvest, including squash and horseradish. “We just have a little bit of horseradish that we sell at the store, so we’re going to dig that up this coming week and grind it all up and put it in the jars,” said Ward.
