it’s the lovely time of year again. cooler temps. leaves turning. pumpkin spice in every direction. and you know our family is here for it all. this year, in our effort to celebrate all things fall, we hit up The Farm, located just a bit north of us in dobson, north carolina.
of course, after several weeks of abnormally cool temps around here, on the day we decided to go, north carolina heated right back up, and our super epic fun fall day was also 85 degrees. but, after 25 years, i’m used to this absurdity i suppose.
first things first. we picked apples. twenty or so pounds of crimson crisps, to be exact. of course, we weren’t just there for the apples, we did it for the vibes as well.
soooooo. the farm is probably geared towards a younger crowd. i guess a lot of pumpkin patches are. so, we really didn’t take advantage of many of the activities and amenities (giant trampoline pad thing, inflatable slides and bounce houses, tractor train rides, playgrounds, corn pits, face painting, even the hayride). we did however, take the opportunity to shoot apples out of a “cannon”…
but mostly, we took pictures. lots of photo opportunities. and really isn’t that what life is all about for teen and tween girls? (and their mom).
of course we we were delighted to stroll amongst a sunflower patch. mostly delighted. one of us was a bit anxious about the bees.
why, exactly, do you suppose that sunflowers are so photogenic and irresistable? anyways. we stood in the hot sun and watched the very bees that terrorized hazel as they went about their days work, collecting pollen into their little cargo pants knee pockets.
just outside of the sunflower patch, there was a collection of adorable farm animals. we spent some time with them, almost like the old days when the kids were tiny folk.
ok. maybe i lied a little. the girls did enjoy a few of the amenities geared towards younger folk. tetherball. a ropes course. giant bubbles. and the see saw.
then, we made our one fatal mistake of the day. we forgot how miserable and stupid corn mazes are. we wandered into one, and despite my request that we just make a couple of turns and then head back out, we soon found ourselves DEEEEEEP into a corn field, trudging along, hoping with all of our might that the next turn would yield the elusive exit. the purchase of hot apple cider donuts (and slushies for the girls) helped to assuage our corn maze misery. and then we shopped for a bounty of pumpkins for our autumn decor.
this is our final haul. i would show you a pic of how i used them in this years decor, but as it turns out, they are right on the porch step where we unloaded them when we got home. at first i was like “it’s too early to get all of this stuff” and now i’m just hopeful to get it properly displayed before halloween. 🙂
anyways. it was a pretty good day. sort of bittersweet, as i watched all of the tiny folk with their young moms and dads frolic about, remembering when that was our life. it seems like yesterday. and now i’ll do that thing where i dig up old posts for nostalgia and definitely don’t get sad about it.
apple picking in 2022
new england apple picking 2020
salt lake city ish with new grams in 2018
somewhere in pennsylvania 2016
meeting new gramma on the road in 2016
kelkenburg farms (wny) 2015
lazy five ranch in 2014
patterson farms in 2014
patterson farms in 2013
western new york, but very strange things happening with these pics, 2010
OG patterson farms (2008)