I have never loved the fall; it means summer is over and
winter is threatening. My husband,
a fall aficionado, tried to get me hooked on the smell of a crisp morning or
the beauty of the changing leaves but was finally successful a few years ago
when we cooked and pureed pumpkins to use fresh pumpkin in a variety of
different recipes. Since that
fall, it has been my personal mission to eat as many pumpkin-flavored items as
possible and to find the perfect fall pumpkin farm. This year, I think I may have succeeded.
While it may not exactly be a well-kept secret, Benton Farms
in Walton, KY is an incredible experience. Since 1941, the farm has been opening its operations up to
the public and educating city-kids like Knox and, well, me, on the
farm-life. Sticking with the
cheap-skate theme, the cost for entry was only $7 per adult (plus the near tank
of gas to get you there) and kids three-and-under are free but we more than
made up this cost with the price of the pumpkin. Every other farm we’ve attended in past years (Neltner’s,
Anderson Farms, Burger Farms, etc.) charge by the pound for pumpkins but Benton
charges $7 maximum for a large pumpkin.
Considering someone found a 52 pound pumpkin the weekend we were there,
this is quite a deal.
Every barn on the property is open to the public with some
different farm activity to do. We
first went into the sheep and llama barn and were able to feed both. Knox loved the feeling of the sheep
tongue on his hands. Next up was
the cow to pet, the rabbit, the chick hatchery and then the sheep to
shear. Knox also got to collect
eggs from the chicken coop and even milk a cow. We then saw the goats and headed over to the hayride
(included in the cost of admission).
The hayride tractor took us to the pumpkin patch just over
the hill where the pumpkins (still attached to the vine, crucial in my
husband’s mine) were ripe for the picking. We spent a long time finding the perfect “Knox-size” pumpkin
and then even longer trying to find the largest pumpkin in the world. My husband found one that he struggled
to carry so he was certain it must be their largest of the season. It was not. It was 35 pounds but, as he made sure to emphasize, it was
not a reflection on his lack of strength, the weight was just distributed
awkwardly (needless to say, he lifted weights immediately upon getting home).
In addition to the activities included in the cost of
admission, they also have pony-rides for an additional $3 and lunch was cooking
on the cauldron (beef-stew). We
did not eat but it smelled delicious.
At night, the front-house is a haunted farm-house and from the look of
it in the day time, it would be quite scary.
In all, there are five or six buildings on the premises in
addition to the barns: a few residences, an educational building (used often
for school events), and a picnic shelter.
Their website advertises for weddings and wedding photos on site and the
beauty of this rustic environment would be really nice for this. What was really neat is the fact that
it is an actual operating farm, the “farm-hand” who was pulling our tractor is a
fourth-generation farmer, and the 71-year old second generation farmer is
on-site quite often.
The farm house is less than 3 miles off the Richwood exit on I-75 and
had ample parking, making access quite easy. Their website is http://bentonfamilyfarm.webs.com/
but trust me, the quality of their farming far exceeds their web-design. I highly recommend this for your fall
family outing.
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