Hey there, guys!

This Sunday, I went apple picking at Great Country Farms! Located in Bluemont, Virginia, this farm has an array of fruits, vegetables, livestock, and includes family-friendly activities to enjoy the area. My friends and I visited this farm to get into the fall season. Everything was successful except for one important part: the weather was eighty two degrees! Despite the temperature, we still had the best time.

Today, I’m diving into my Great Country Farms experience: apple-picking, looking at the animals, and enjoying the fall atmosphere. I’m excited to make some apple pie out of the apples I picked, too. Hopefully my time spent with nature encourages you to do something similar! Let’s get into it:

Apple Picking

Upon arriving to the farm, we waited for a tractor trailer to escort us to the apple fields, where we proceed to gathering the best produce. Once we hopped out of the trailer, we found some plastic bags the farm left on the field for people to use (or if you are like my wonderful, earth-concious friend Emily, then you can bring a reusable bag 😉 ), and we started our adventure.

We had a ton of fun prancing through the endless rows of trees and shooing away bugs that tried to eat the apples we picked off. Although boiling hot, the sunny weather magnified all of the shiny apples. I think I mostly picked Honeycrisp apples. There were some Candy Crisps and Fuji apples, too.

One valuable tip for anyone planning to apple pick: wear jeans or long pants if the weather permits. There were a lot of bugs and bees feeding off of the apples that had fallen on the floor, so to avoid any bug bites, just stick to pants. I wore a jean skirts and came home with a lot of bites; be careful, haha!

When I brought my apples back home, I caught my grandmother eating one over the sink. She told me, “I don’t usually eat apples, but these ones are really good!” I picked a good batch!

Farm Animals

Once we returned from our apple-picking adventure, we dropped off our bags in the car and strolled through all of the farm animals! The animals were closed off into different pens. You could even feed some of the goats and rabbits, but we didn’t know where we could find the food to give them.

At the start of the section, we saw a few black and white goats that hung around the fence. Perhaps they were seeking attention or some food, but they seemed amiable! I even saw a little boy sitting on the floor trying to pet the goats from the other side of the fence. Although his attempt was unsuccessful, it was cute!

Rabbits, turkeys, chickens, pigs, and more goats awaited us as we walked through the property. We only spotted one rabbit hidden within the dirt. In a pen, we saw a few turkey frantically gobbling as people neared the pen.

Inside of a shed rested more goats! They were so eager for attention and food that they would try to stand up alongside the fence and stick their head over the top railing. I had nothing to offer them, so they soon went back to grazing on what was on the floor beneath them.

Chickens trotted around in a pen opposite to the goats. Their liveliness captivated some young onlookers. Perhaps my favorite animals on the farm were the pigs. There was one large, pink, and muddy pig sun-bathing, almost seeming to smile in the photo my friend took! It seemed so peaceful and content to be doing absolutely nothing.

Then, there was a little black pig that snorted and ran to the opposite side of the fence as my friends and I got closer to his pen. His small build made him look even more adorable in person!

Corn Maze

I hadn’t been inside of a corn maze in forever until my friends and I found ourselves at the start of what seemed like an endless corn maze! I wouldn’t say it was impossible to untangle oneself out of the maze; it was more of a scenic appreciation of nature than a puzzle.

Walking through the maze was a lot of fun! Laughing with my friends, picking which way to proceed, and hearing the sound of the animals and faint chatter of the crowd there felt like a refreshing change to my usual suburban lifestyle. There were some times where you could climb up an elevated platform, like the ones that I used to take the photos, to see where you stood. Make sure to bring some sunglasses for the top because it gets super sunny!

I hope you guys found some joy seeing the cute photos of the day and hearing about my awesome time at the farm! The drive to Great Country Farms is about an hour and ten minutes from Northern Virginia, so if you live in the area, check it out! Lastly, I want to make a happy shout-out to my amazing friends Emily and Maria for not only driving me and giving me the idea to go but also ultimately inspiring this post, haha! You guys are the best!

I wish you all the best week! Have a great day!

Quote of the post: “For every minute you are angry, you lose sixty seconds of happiness.” ~Author unknown