This is my family’s new favorite apple orchard!
*** #basicwhitegirl alert!!!! ***
IT’S FREAKING FALL, YA’LL!!!!
Do you even know what that means!? No?!
Well…..Good thing you have me here to tell you….
It means apple and pumpkin EVERYTHING. (It also means football season. Which consequently means buffalo sauce and chili everything. In fall I tend to gain a few pounds to help me hibernate through the winter. Don’t tell anyone, but leggings have an elastic waist band and coordinate perfectly with flowy tops that hide said pounds. Shhh. Our secret.)
But back to my APPLE EVERYTHING state of mind…
I have a love for apple season that goes deep. Every fall, my mom and Grammy would make homemade applesauce with freshly-picked apples. In case you live under a rock, or perhaps were not as fortunate as I was growing up, that equals the BEST damn applesauce you have ever tasted. I will post the recipe for you. I promise. I just can’t post it yet, because that would be putting the cart before the horse. Before you make awesome applesauce you need some freshly-picked apples!
Where do you get those?
Ummmm…..Apple picking farms. Silly.
Going off the success of my “Good Cheap Fun” post I wrote at the beginning of the summer, I decided throwing some good cheap FALL fun your way was a good idea too. My first post of fall 2015 is below! 🙂
19412 Shabbona Road, Malta, IL
We went there this afternoon, and I have to tell you how much we loved it RIGHT NOW. This just can’t wait. We had so much fun. I’m serious.
It is adorable. Everything is so darn cute and clean. There literally was not a piece of hay out of place here. Right off the bat they have cute photo-ops set up just waiting for you to snap your daily Instagram photo! (Feel free to #jonamacorchard #applepicking #ilovefall to your little social media heart’s content!)
It really is good cheap fun here, because admission on weekdays is FREE. No joke. FREE. You just walk right on in, no questions asked. This includes all kinds of activities like:
rubber ducky racing,
tractor bike racing,
pretend tractor driving,
playhouse exploring,
rope climbing and mini-maze maneuvering,
sliding,
old-school gaming,
corn silo swimming,
and hay bale mountain climbing! Recap – all of that is FREE on weekdays.
On weekday afternoons, you can add this awesome jumpy pillow and animal barn to all the free activities I already listed for $4.00 per child and $2.00 per adult. Children 2 and under are free with paid adult. I promise you will want to participate in the jumpy pillow because you are cool parents like us. Soooo $2.00 of fun is coming your way! Read more about the weekday after school special here.
If you visit on the weekend, you will have to pay admission. Don’t worry though – there is good news! The corn maze and tractor rides are only open on weekends and admission prices are actually pretty affordable. Jonamac even offers a family pass – $32.00 for a family of 4. Not bad considering what you pay at some other orchards and fall farms! Click here for more information about activities and admission prices.
There is also a pumpkin patch that was not open when we were there – It opens this weekend 9/26! Click here to find out more.
So now that you have had a crap-ton of fall fun on the farm, you need to get to work doing what you came to do: Go pick some apples!
Before you venture into the orchard, stop by The Country Store or The Apple Hut to purchase your picking bags. There are no admission fees to the orchard, but you can only use the purchased bags to hold your apples. Don’t waste your time bringing your own sacks. Click here to find out more pricing and picking information.
I recommend checking the apple chart before heading out for the day to see what varieties are available for picking. You can also use the chart to decide which apple variety would be best for you, especially if you are unfamiliar with apple varieties. (Some are better for baking, some are better for snacking.) Check their Facebook page for updates as well.
Once you are in the orchard, get picking! There are crates that the kids can stand on so that they can reach the tree branches. My girls loved it! You can have a freshly-picked apple for a snack while you pick. Clearly, my Emmy took full advantage of this offer. Yum.
A few other tidbits you might want to know….
This place is stroller friendly! (There are so many fall farms and festivals that aren’t, so when you find one that is, you hold that precious gem close to your heart until your kids can log their own Fitbit miles.) The farm grounds have well-maintained gravel paths connecting the attractions.
The paths even run into the orchard! You can definitely feel confident bringing your stroller or wagon here. If you have a young family like me, it is worth noting that the bathroom situation is waaaaay better than other seasonal fall farms. You have a couple of options. They have plenty of port-a-potties, complete with a hand washing station and hand sanitizer. There are also real, working bathrooms inside The Country Store. There are only a couple stalls, but if you just can’t handle port-a-potties with your kiddos then head over there!
While you are in The Country Store, check this cute board for upcoming events and browse the adorable fall decor, apple butter, apple donuts, apple pies, apple cider and APPLE WINE for sale. (I had you at wine, right?) Buy some. I have tasted it. DELICIOUS. Then go ahead and impulse buy lots of fall crap! I promise you won’t regret it. (You really did need a bunch of distressed signs and mason jars filled with cinnamon. Your house rocks now. I know. I just get you.)
Stop by The Apple Cart, Kettle Corn Barn or The Country Store if you get hungry on the weekends, but head to The Country Store if it is a weekday. There is also a nice pavilion full of picnic tables, and plenty of grassy areas to spread out a blanket if you brought your own food. Even if you packed a picnic, you should still grab their apple donuts for dessert. Feel free to thank me for telling you to do that – because they are freaking amazing.
Give the drive a chance! Jonamac Orchard might look farther away on a map, but it was way more convenient for us to visit then some of the comparable orchards over the Indiana border. It is 10 minutes from DeKalb (GO HUSKIES!), and basically in the opposite direction of all the crappy traffic and road construction surrounding the city, burbs and Indiana border. It took an hour for us to get there, but I promise you that we didn’t see a break light the entire drive! So worth it!
Jonamac’s husky! NIUUUUU!
Now go visit Jonamac Orchard and tell me how much you loved it in the comments. We already have plans to go back, so see you all there!
Happy apple picking!
🙂 Kaitlyn