{I am so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.} Anne of Green Gables

I LOVE seeing the pictures from families on playtime farm excursions! They always look like so much fun.  My family loves them, too. My favorite play time farms include: Schusters, Eusters, and Eplegaarden. The running through the lines of apple trees, the hay ride out to the pumpkin patch. It is honestly a ton of fun. I love seeing the baby animals — however am less inclined to run and jump into feeding or petting them as I was as a kid. (GERMS) The mazes always look like fun, and it can be cool to be in an anonymous community of parents and kids.

As much as I love fantasizing about taking my kids out for a seasonal barn experience, when it comes to a game time decision - I tend to turn towards the smaller or sleepy orchards. Jerry’s Apples has been a long time favorite. There is something so quiet and comfortable there. There are no hay rides, but there are donkeys + dogs walking around eager to greet us. The apples are delicious + they are so great about engaging the kids and teaching them about the apple business, cleaning, bagging, etc. Jerry is always wearing a warm smile, and welcomes us back time after time. He knows how to make us feel really important. I can see he shares the same hospitality with everyone and it makes all the difference. 

When we want more of a selection of apples (we have 5 favorite types of apple at our house.) We head over to Door Creek Orchard. In the past we have been able to handle Door Creek durning the peek times (weekends) but now with 8 little feet to keep track of besides our own - we stick to the weekday evenings. They are open until 6pm for business, but it is a beautiful place to walk around beyond that, too. Sometimes we are the only ones there on the sprawling property with nature trails, apple trees, a huge willow tree next to a pond, and some small farm animals to watch.

On the way home from the Door Creek, there is a little house that sells pumpkins. Our kids call it the pumpkin patch - even though it is only a couple of yards from the Beltline traffic. We don't correct them. (We are terrible - we know.) They have amazing pricing, and it is all on the honor system - which is not only refreshing, but is serves as a great lesson in human honor code for kids. They love counting up our total and stuffing the dollars into the little metal lockbox.

The great thing about going to smaller Orchards, or at less crowed times - is that I don't see it as an “huge experience.”As much as a quiet thing to do with the kids. I don't have to gear myself up, I don't need to plan too much, we can just head out to the orchard and make getting apples more of a space to talk and interact as a family and less as a extravaganza. With less to do overall there is more room for everyone to focus on the same thing. Like walking down the nature trail to the pond at Door Creek, or listening to Jerry talk about apples. This also means we can make it out to the farm more often in one season (5+ times so far!) … and it is easier on our wallets, too. 

In truth, their is space for everything. And I would be lying if I said that we we don't enjoy the playtime farms when we do go - we love going with other families, and on school field trips. It truly is a great place for fostering community. But if and when we go this year and beyond, - there will be moments when I will compare it to the quiet sunset we enjoy at the quieter orchards. 

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