Part working farm, part amusement park = a perfect Sunday afternoon. This past Sunday, Christopher and I had a date to go apple picking. You should always call ahead to “u-pick” orchards because they often only have u-pick fruit on certain days. We called and as it turns out they did not have apple picking that day but they did have pumpkin picking. Not as glamorous as the apple orchard fashion editorial I was day-dreaming about all week, but pumpkin patches can be fashionable too, right?
Great Country Farms in Bluemont, VA (about an hour’s drive outside of the city) had everything we wanted: hayrides (for Chris), farm animals (for me), pig racing (for both of us) and P-rex the pumpkin eating animatronic dinosaur (for…well we’re still figuring that one out). We couldn’t have asked for better weather, sunny clear blue skies, 70’s and no humidity. Anna (housemate of the week!) lovingly altered my vintage mustard colored dress (from Flowerhead Vintage aka Lindso) just for my special date. I packed the picnic basket with all the goodies I could get my hands on at Whole Foods: salmon, salami, cinnnamon honey almonds, roasted acorn squash and beets, sweet potato chips, fresh berries, olives, lemonade, sparkling water… (I’m sure I’m forgetting something).
There were so many activities available at the farm (for a reasonable $10 entry fee) that we had to have a pow wow first thing to make sure we didn’t miss out on something wonderful.
This apple dumpling was a first for Chris! He gave me bites with mostly apple since I am going strict(er) paleo. :)
This little boy was all the motivation the pigs needed to run as fast as they could.
Feeding the farm animals.
Chris made nice with the donkey.
Sheep have vary strange eyes up close. I was a little surprised/creeped out. Check out the green velvet bow in my hair!
The prettiest wild flowers around every corner…
A preview of the P-rex pumpkin eating show. Do you think Chris is scared?
We conquered tire mountain…
together.
A tire mountain-view of Great Country Farms.
Rope swinging.
Brushing P-rex’s teeth during the show.
Hay ride (minus the hay) to the pumpkin patch.
Look coach, I can pick up the heaviest pumpkin!
Someone left some pumpkin art in the patch for us to discover.
Where did his feet go?
When your boyfriend is a dj, you get a soundtrack for your picnicking - lucky.
Yup, he’s a stomach sleeper. (picnic tip: bring a pillow! trust me, you’ll never picnic without one again!)
Is it wrong to love a mustard colored dress and blue tights? If it is, I don’t want to be right.
It really was the perfect day and a wonderful date with Chris. We’ve been so busy these days with projects (recaps and updates soon) that even though we see each other most everyday it’s rare that we get to relax and just enjoy the company and the outdoors. I think we’ll make another orchard trip this fall. Any suggestions on where to go?
