Millions of peaches, peaches for me

Okaw Valley Orchard west of Sullivan has peaches ready and they are huge globes of juicy sweetness and delicate fuzz. You CAN NOT buy peaches like this at the grocery store. I brought home a peck of peaches for $13, enough to freeze for later. Okaw Valley has massive bags of applesauce apples available now for $3/$6 and will have eating apples by the weekend. Take your children and enjoy the playground, walking through the orchard, and cider slushies.

The Great Pumpkin Patch, Arthur

It has been 10 years since I've been to The Great Pumpkin Patch in Arthur and it has grown from a quaint family farm operation to a huge agri-tourism attraction. It is easy to find, a couple miles directly south of Arthur with large signs pointing the way from highway 133. It's open daily from 9-6 with $3 admission for visitors over 12 years old, $1 for children 5-12 and free for children under 5.

The Great Pumpkin Patch has by far the largest selection of pumpkins, squashes, and gourds of any pumpkin patch we've been to.
Many displays have cooking information so you know what to do with your purchases. I can see how a novice cook would be intimidated by some of the unusual squash varieties.

The great wall of cucurbits. What a display! Don't. Touch. Anything.
Noah's Ark of cucurbits. See the pumpkins going two by two?Pumpkins of the world. Gourd mountain. This pile was probably 15 feet high.Lots of animals to check out too. Chickens, rabbits, chickens, llamas, chickens, sheep and more chickens.

As far as prices go, the jack-o-lantern pumpkins were more expensive than the other two pumpkin patches we've been to this fall but the giant pumpkins were a bargain. The 100 pound pumpkins were only $20. There were two straw mazes, a corn maze, a hay rack ride, a one room school house museum, a haunted barn, a children's garden, and food vendors. We spent several hours wandering around and playing at the Great Pumpkin Patch. We came home with a tall skinny pumpkin to complement the three other pumpkins we've gotten so far. Surprisingly, the Great Pumpkin Patch accepts Visa and Mastercards at the check out. Afterwards we went into Arthur to have phosphate sodas at Dick's Pharmacy and buy yummy Amish cheese.

Awesome October Events

Central Illinois is coming to the last of the fall festivals. At the same time, there is a wider variety of events and activities than in September.

Oct 5-7 Flatcon is coming to Bloomington Normal! This is a volunteer run gaming convention. Bring dice, dice, and more dice and meet the people behind the games.
Oct 5-6 Another historic reenactment! Take a candle light tour of the log cabins Lincoln called home at the New Salem State Historic Site, Petersburg. 7 to 9 pm. 217/632-4000
Oct 6-7 Haven't had enough apples or festivals yet? The Old Fashioned Apple Festival will be going on at the Okaw Valley Orchard in Sullivan.

Oct 6, 8, 10 The band I love to shake my heiny to, 56 Hope Road, will be at LSB Saturday and Millikin on Monday and the Canopy Club on Wednesday.
Oct 7 & 14 Oconee Fall Festival: Oconee. Hayrides, maze, crafts, pumpkins, and a zoo.

Oct 12-14, 19-21, 26-31, Perennial favorite, Boo at the Zoo begins at Scovill Zoo in Decatur.
Oct 12-13 Do you like ribs? Then downtown Arthur is the place to be for Braggin' Rights, a national BBQ competition. Many top ten Kansas City teams come to compete.
Oct 12-14 I hope the fall leaves are peaking for the Monticello Barn Tour. It is a self guided tour of barns in rural Central Illinois. Purchase a map in the lobby of the Piatt County Museum and start driving.

Oct 14 Miller Park Zoo in Bloomington will host an art and craft show.
Oct 14 The Allerton Diversified Farm brings us Pumpkinpalooza, featuring pumpkin chucking, pumpkin decorating, scarecrow stuffing, and hayrack rides. 11 am to 5 pm.

Later this week Central Illinois Life will feature the haunted scoop on houses, trains, and tours.

Black Bart's Pumpkin Patch, Warrensburg

Black Bart's Pumpkin Patch is the place to go for giant pumpkins. They have a HUGE selection of HUGE pumpkins.

Black Bart's Pumpkin Patch also includes the normal pumpkin patch entertainment, a hay maze, a corn maze, a slide, and a petting zoo. There is a haunted house which was too scary for my son.

For sale you'll find multi-color corn, hay bales, squash, gourds, a stuff your own scarecrow station, and pumpkins galore. Admission is free to Black Bart's and then you can pay for activities a la cart. The corn maze is 75 cents, children under 3 free. Feed for the petting zoo is a quarter per serving. The haunted house and slide are free. Drinks are available in the store for 75 cents per pop or bottle of water.
My son and I walked and walked thru the pumpkin patch and never came to the end of it. We were so far away I couldn't even see the house anymore. I would guess there are thousands of pumpkins waiting for you. Giant pumpkins, white pumpkins, red pumpkins, warty pumpkins, flat pumpkins, dark green pumpkins, grey pumpkins, and jack-o-lantern pumpkins. It's amazing.

Black Bart's Pumpkin Patch is open Monday thru Saturday 9 am to 6 pm and Sunday 11 am to 6 pm. Pumpkins are 35 cents per pound. I'm putting it on the Google map.

Furrow Winery and Red Barn Pumpkin Patch, El Paso

Today I took my son to play at the Furrow Winery's Red Barn Pumpkin Patch. We had a blast! Admission is $3 per child and parents get in free. The children's play area is super fun. They have a bounce house, a swing set, slides for tots and bigger kids, a speed boat (sunk into the ground), a tractor, an old school bus cab, a hay fort, a petting zoo, and a corn maze. I would have paid $3 just for the maze. We spent half our time wandering lost through the corn.
Red Barn has a big selection of pumpkins, both picked and in the field. At 29 cents a pound they are a bargain too. We got a gorgeous 13 lb white, orange, and green striped pumpkin and two tiny pumpkins for $4.50.

There were 3 kindergarten classes there today and they were having a ball. The straw castle area was swarming with children, but I got a photo while they were eating lunch.
The tractor and the petting zoo were not a big hit with H, but I think he wanted to just be in the fray of kindergartners. And in the corn maze. He loved, loved, loved running around the corn maze.

Oh! Tractor train rides are also included in the admission price. My son got a big kick out of driving around the farm in these little train cars.

The pumpkin patch is well marked from Hwy 251 north of El Paso. We found it easily. The only negative was that the porta potties were very full today so we resorted to an emergency diaper. The staff was friendly, the play area was clean, the pumpkins were beautiful and inexpensive.

Before we left, I stopped at the winery shop for an award winning bottle of Panther Creek Red. This weekend Furrow Winery will be celebrating Oktoberfest with their special release wine (only 250 cases available) food and live music. This weekend would be excellent to take your children to the pumpkin patch and come back for Oktoberfest!

Wettstein's Organic Farm, Carlock

I've told you about some great local butchers in Central Illinois, but what if you want to get even closer to the source and get incredible locally grown organic hand raised meat? Meat that will make you swoon.

Try the Wettstein's family farm near Carlock for out of this world poultry and beef. The Wettstein's have been featured by Farm Aid and are located a short drive from Bloomington-Normal. Take your family and tour the farm with the charming Wettstein children before you make your purchases. You'll see chickens eating loads of bugs and moved to fresh grass daily. You can walk all over a beautiful diversified farm with many different animals. It's like disappearing into a children's book.

Be ready to stock up while you are there because once you get home and taste the steaks, eggs, or chicken you'll wish you had purchased more. As good as the beef is at Eastside Market in Decatur or Walnut Street Deli in Le Roy, the steaks from the Wettstein's farm will completely trump any you've ever had. They also offer pork and lamb which I've not tried.

Dennis and Emily Wettstein RR # 1 — Carlock, (309) 376-7291. Since it's a family farm you should probably call ahead to see what meat is available and get directions.