Get out and pick some pumpkins
Here is a great list of area pumpkin patches to check out and take the whole family to here in the Metro Area. Call ahead to verify opening hours and directions, and to ensure that the farm has pumpkins before you travel. Pumpkin supply depends on the weather, the season and how busy the farm has been. Afton Apple Orchard (https://www.aftonapple.com/pumpkins.htm) All kinds of pumpkins to pick, plus several varieties of apples, and corn maze, petting zoo and baked goods for sale. 14421 South 90th Street Hastings, MN 55033 Telephone 651-436-8385 Emma Krumbee's Orchard and Farm (https://www.emmakrumbees.com/) Lots of fall attractions at this popular farm include pick-your-own apples, petting zoo, maze, restaurant and an annual scarecrow festival. Take a tractor ride out to the pumpkin fields to pick your own pumpkins. There is an admission charge during pumpkin season, through Halloween. US Highway 169 501 East South Street Belle Plaine, MN 56011 Telephone 952-873-3654 Fireside Orchard and Gardens (https://www.firesideorchard.com/) This apple orchard, about 40 minutes south of Minneapolis, also grows plenty of Halloween pumpkins. Fireside Orchard & Gardens 2225 Lonsdale Boulevard Highway 19 Northfield, MN 55057 Telephone 507-663-1376 Homestead Produce Apple Orchard (https://minnesotahomesteadorchard.com/) This apple orchard has a pumpkin patch, plus a petting zoo, free hayrides, jumping castle and straw pile. Fall fun at its finest. 1080 County Road 92 Maple Plain, MN 55359 Telephone 612-290-8024 Hugo Animal Farm (https://www.hugoanimalfarm.com/) The pumpkin patch at this farm is open on the weekends. 9441 North 180th Street Hugo, MN 55038 Telephone 651-433-4455 McDougall's Apple Junction (https://www.apple-junction.com/pages/pumpkins.htm) Take a hayride to the six acre pumpkin patch, or buy a pre-picked pumpkin. Also various varieties of apples, a petting zoo, a children's playground and maze. 4325 South 110th Street (County Road 78) Hastings, MN 55033 …
Summer comes to a close
I stared at my vanilla soft-serve cone with rainbow sprinkles. It stared back. After a minute or two, there wasn't a trace of melted ice cream to be found. With that it was written—summer was ending much too soon. We were well into what is referred to where I come from as "Indian summer," or the final weeks of summer; when the warm weather and seemingly endless sunshine are winding down as fast as kids are returning to school and the leaves are beginning to fall. The smell of that familiar crisp chill is already in the air some mornings. Why did it seem that the season associated with vacations and adventures, partying, cookouts, and heat always ends sooner than that old foe named winter, the season linked to cold, dark mornings, chattering teeth, and awkward holiday parties? After all, I havent heard of anyone begging a groundhog not to see its shadow and sentence us to six more weeks of summer. Well, I'd had enough of this, this...fall...creaping back into the picture. I had to do something to remind myself that there were still a few weeks left of my favorite season and that that big, oafish autumn was encroaching into summer's territory, slapping its crisp, orange and brown toes onto the wrong weeks. I decided that attending a baseball game would be the perfect solution. Nothing says summer like a juicy Ball Park frank and a seventh-inning stretch. Without hesitation, I bought a ticket in the nosebleeds for that weekend's big game. Hot dog in hand, the first pitch was thrown and it all was off to a good start. An adorable kid of about seven or eight years caught a foul ball right into his baseball cap and the crowd all cheered. After the first inning the home team was winning. Then, about twenty or so men all dressed alike appeared at one end of the diamond. They carried a large, white tarp and sat it down right at the side formed by the first and second bases. A fluffy white, cloud was enveloping the baseball mound as the men suddenly ran with an edge in hand to…