Who doesn’t love fall? From the crisp air to the changing leaves, fall is a favorite.
Here in Central Texas, early November brings days with temperatures in the mid-seventies. The blazing months of 90 and 100-degree days are gone for the time being.
With that, our family finds ourselves looking for ways to enjoy the outdoors together.
Two weekends ago we took a jaunt into the hill country and enjoyed one of our favorite businesses, Sweet Berry Farms. As the name suggests, during the spring they cater to those in search of red juicy strawberries ready for picking.
During the fall, however, things change at the farm. Berries and poppies give way to pumpkins and corn mazes.
Here are my top 5 suggestions for visiting Sweet Berry Farms.
1. Enjoy an educational hunt through a Texas-shaped cornfield maze.
Cornfield mazes are all the rage in many parts of the country. What sets this one apart is a hunt geographical in nature. Each maze-wanderer has a mission: to find the placards for all the Texas state parks within the maze. Shaped like Texas, this maze has fairly accurately placed each park placard in its actual state location.
At each stop, a distinct punch is available to indicate that you have located another state park.
Through this adventure, we learned there are A LOT more state parks in Texas than we previously realized. We were less concerned about finding our way out of the maze and more preoccupied with finding every state park on our cards. So. Much. Fun!
2. Flower picking
For $5 you can pick the prettiest flowers you ever did see. Scissors and a plastic collapsible vase were provided at the entrance to the field.
Thing 4 and John took one vase while the boys and I filled another. The end result was a lovely bouquet of colorful flowers that adorned our kitchen table for days.
3. Strawberry Ice Cream.
This ice cream is made with berries from the farm. It’s a must-have, regardless of the season. You can also order this during the berry-picking season.
4. Kid-friendly Offerings.
From a barrel train to a berry bounce, the fun for littles abounds! Smaller mazes cater to short ones as well.
5. Photo Ops Galore!
Entrance to Sweet Berry Farms is free and allows you to only pay for what your party will use and enjoy. One thing that is 100% free to all is taking photos with a myriad of fun props provided.
Sweet Berry Farms can be as economical or as costly as you make it out to be. For our family of 5 ranging from 12 to middle-aged, we spent $58. We enjoyed the grown-up maze and two vases of flower picking. We rarely end up out here, so for us, the novel outdoor activities for less than the price of a movie is a big win.
If your crowd is younger, you will most likely be out less dinero on this outing. The cornfield maze at $8 per person is, by a landslide, the most expensive activity at the farm. In comparison, the berry bounce for younger kiddos only runs $2.75.
Our clan gives Sweet Berry Farms 10 enthusiastic thumbs up.
Note: masks are optional. The weekends are bringing in large crowds, so be aware.
Pumpkins are for sale at a price of .49 per pound. We didn’t purchase any there but regret that as our local grocery stores ran out quickly.
Go enjoy their fall offerings this weekend. The Thanksgiving season will bring new opportunities.
For more information, go to www.sweetberryfarms.com.