Happy Halloween, friends! I hope you are all having a lovely fall Sunday. Our day will be full of football and sweet treats, and we are looking forward to passing out candy to trick-or-treaters for the first time at our new house tonight!
Since pumpkin season is rapidly turning into peppermint season, I wanted to recap a fun day trip that Gary and I took to a farm/pumpkin patch. When I lived in Iowa City, I LOVED going to Wilson’s Orchard in the fall. Give me all of freshly baked apple cider donuts and apple turnovers. Yum! We have a cute local farm in Goleta, but it’s pretty small and doesn’t have an apple orchard. So, I reached out to a coworker for a recommendation, and it did not disappoint! (Thanks, Anne!)
The Avila Valley Barn is an hour and a half north of Santa Barbara, so we decided to tack it onto a trip up the central coast earlier this month. This farm has so many fun fall activities! It’s a very family friendly location, so we were grateful to stop by on a Thursday when it wasn’t too crowded.
When we first arrived, we were drawn to all of the animals (because, duh). We’re not just talking about goats and chickens, either. There were cows, ponies, donkeys, llamas, pigs, sheep, and more. I quickly caught onto the fact that we could purchase a head of romaine lettuce to feed them all, and we obviously couldn’t resist. I should also point out that the price point was super reasonable! There is no entry fee to the farm, and the huge head of lettuce was only $3.
We had a blast feeding all of the animals. Can you tell that I was obsessed with the brown cow named Rosie? Gary said that she had “kind eyes” and I totally agree! The donkey cracked us up…he was obviously hungry 🙂
After we fed the animals, we walked down into the farm area. There was a mini hay maze for kids (the hay bales weren’t stacked high enough to make it suitable for adults), a small pumpkin patch, picnic tables, and an area full of sunflowers that I was obsessed with. Throughout the year, the Avila Valley Barn has U-Pick fruits, veggies, and flowers, depending on what’s in season. They had tractor rides that could drive us back to the apple orchard, but Gary and I decided to walk out there since it was such a beautiful day!
We loved that sampling 1-2 items was allowed. Gary and I decided to share the cutest little Gala apple and it was delicious! There’s something about eating an apple right off a tree that makes it taste so good.
By the time we got back up to the barn area, we were famished, but that was all part of the plan! I had read all about the delicious BBQ available on site Thursday through Sunday, so we feasted at the Avila Valley Barn Chicken Shack & Smokehouse. Gary ordered the Lil Clucker with dark meat, and I ordered the Tri Tipper. We also ordered mac and cheese as a side to share (because we couldn’t resist). We enjoyed our meal at a shady picnic table, without any sort of bee issue! This meal was so delicious and filling that we weren’t even hungry for dinner that evening.
Before heading out, we took a look at all of the fun pumpkins and gourds that were for sale. There were so many unique varieties to see!
We also took a peek around the farm stand/gift shop that had fresh pies (!!!), fruits and veggies, and tons more. I loved looking in all of the little corners that had the cutest home decor and gift ideas. It was all adorable.
We really enjoyed our visit to the Avila Valley Barn and will definitely pay them another visit if we are in the area again next fall. You should definitely check it out if you’re ever nearby!
xoxo
Jennifer