Fall is Finally Here

The end of summer always comes with mixed feelings of relief (from no longer having to run in the heat and humidity) but disappointment that it's no longer t-shirt and shorts, nap-out-on-the-balcony weather. The cooler weather also means that our paddleboards haven't been out in weeks - and probably won't be back until spring. Despite these earlier signs of the season changing, though, the official beginning of Fall (according to me) was this weekend!

The mums come out: first signs of fall?

Ben, Jaz, Jose Carlos and I went to Beasley's in Danville, IN. It's an apple orchard, but they also have a you-pick pumpkin patch, a market (produce, baked goods, and other goodies), and a Fall Festival each year. The Fall Festival includes fun stuff like bouncy houses for the kids, craft fair tents, a puppet show, food stands, hay rides, and a corn maze. It's a little bit nickel-and-dime since each of these activities is a pay-to-play, but it's still a lot of fun.

It was supposed to be sunny, but was kind of cloudy and breezy all day. How very fall.

Of course, we kicked off the whole day by grabbing an "ultimate" burger at the FFA tent: a burger topped with bacon and BBQ pulled pork. 3 meats, one bun. It was delicious. (Ben may have gone back for a second...)

After finishing our breakfast burgers, we walked over to the pumpkin patch, about a half mile walk. We passed a bunch of apple trees, and I thought this was a cool shot. (Hmmm... An Instagram-ed version of this might end up on the gallery wall above our sofa.)

Ben brought his frisbee-disc thing and was throwing it around. That's the hayride in front of us... it's a $3 ride, so we decided to enjoy the nice-ish day and make the short walk to the pumpkin patch.

It was kind of really muddy. This is what my boots looked like before the pumpkins... (a year later, and I still love Vivobarefoot boots from NYC!)

Ok, so you're definitely NOT allowed to pick apples off of the trees anymore. Is this a recent realization of the liability - from people climbing and falling out of trees? My mom used to take me and my sister apple-picking in Cleveland every year when we were kids, so although picking out pre-packaged apples in the Beasley's store was fun, it didn't even compare to grabbing one off of the tree at will. I did it anyway. From ground level. I live on the edge.

We finally got to the pumpkin patch after walking past the windy windy orchards (so glad I found glittens - glove mittens - in my car). JC was pretty pumped too.

Then, the picking frenzy began!!!! The ones you see in the photos were pre-picked and dragged to the aisles because they were enormous(ly heavy). Most of them were still on vines and you had to break them off of the vines if you chose to take it home with you.

It was really muddy from the rain we had earlier in the week (where was all of this rain during the drought?!?!?!). I was so glad I wore boots. Ben rolled up his pant legs so he wouldn't get all muddy. A few years ago, we were rushing to catch the hay wagon back after we'd picked our pumpkins, and the stem of my pumpkin had been stuck or was too long. So Ben punch-kicked the stump off of the pumpkin we chose... and to this day I thought it was the most hilarious thing, ever. He did some more kick! this time too to get some stumps off again. He found a nice roundy one.

I know now that I'm not the one who kicks the pumpkins. See, I found the perfect tapered, egg-shaped pumpkin (it was unique!) and was really pumped about it. Ben told me to kick the stem off, except after 5 whiffs, I kicked the ENTIRE stem off completely! Sad face. I spent the next 20 minutes looking for another oblong pumpkin, but apparently in this field they're pretty rare.

This one was a pretty good second choice.

We got to the baby pumpkin patch and I decided to unbury a smaller pumpkin to bring home, too. This one was buried under some brush but in perfect condition.

I totally took a stealth picture of this little kid as I walked by. The scale of the pumpkins surrounding him, plus the tiny pumpkin in his hand made me laugh! He was also (I think) one of 5 kids that his mom brought to the pumpkin patch. FIVE.

I'm making us sound like bad people but we caught the hay ride back... it would've been a long chilly walk otherwise! See that tiiiiiny little thing at the base of the pumpkin that's front and center? That's a baby pumpkin. It looks like a tiny unripe grape tomato. They threw it in at no charge (ha), saying that "the deer are gonna be pissed," since apparently they like to eat baby pumpkins. Don't we all?

We took some fun photos while we waited for the hay ride wagon. Dang you, camera bag!! I'm photoshopping it out of this picture first chance I get.

And then, we paid for our pumpkins. They kind of just eyeball how big they are and a guy in a tent tells you how much you owe. We paid $12 for the two big-ish ones and one small one. I heard pumpkins cost a lot this year because of the drought, but this didn't lead me to believe that.

Then we got to the market (it's inside the wood building you see in the background). They were selling HUGE gorgeous and colorful mums for only $7. They were easily twice as big as the ones I got at Menard's the other day for $4! And way more colors.

We bought a gigantic spaghetti squash and a peck of cortland apples (my fave). 

More gourds... some all warty, and others that apparently looked like headwear!

...and at this point we partook in the apple dumplings a la mode, while Ben got another ultimate burger. It was also delicious. We stood around for a bit here, so Jaz & I took this picture in front of the pretty decorated cart.

I thought this was kind of a cool shot, too. What you don't see is the row of 10 portajohns right next to me. 

And then, corn maze time!! Rather than follow the directions and clues, we decided to wing it and took turns  leading as we randomly called turning directions for each decision point, sort of Indian-run style.

"Why are there bags on everyone's feet?" you ask. Well, it was crazy muddy in the maze. Solution: bags. Also, notice the corn isn't too high, again, a little stunted and thin due to drought. I don't think any NBA players would find this maze too exciting.

Not to downplay the genuine challenge and intricacy of the maze, here's how the rows were planted at the beginning of the growing season:

 But seriously, a fall festival isn't complete without a ridiculously large bag of fresh kettle corn. I did my best, but we didn't finish it. It did, however, eat kettle corn until my tongue went numb and I thought I was going to die of thirst. It was so worth it!!

So that was our welcoming-Fall adventure from the weekend. I'm still planning on continuing with the autumnal madness by going all-out on pumpkin. So far: pumpkin turkey chili, pumpkin spice yogurt, and pumpkin-granola parfaits. And, with the OSU-IU football game this weekend, I'm pretty sure my season will be feel complete!

How do you get your fall fix? Know of any good apple or pumpkin recipes I absolutely have to try?

Ps- check out the fall wreath I made the other day! Easiest, quickest craft ever.