The familiar fall chill has returned and brought with it our beloved autumn menagerie of crimson and canary. Are you ready? Pumpkin time is here! Forget about the rush to find a good one before they’re gone, frantically rummaging through some supermarket bin for perfectly round and perfectly orange. This year, start the season of nostalgia off right by making a new memory of you and your friends and loved ones together.

Pull-on some old jeans, grab your favorite comfy sweater and take a trip to Union…

Pull-on some old jeans, grab your favorite comfy sweater and take a trip about a mile and a half outside of Union to Willowbend Road and spend a day at Byrnside Branch Farm. Walk with your “lil punkins” through the Small Corn Maze, their eyes getting big when you jest, “We have to be careful or we’ll get lost!” Listen to their little gasps and giggles as you take a ride with them on a wagon pulled by mini-horses. Watch their tiny faces light up when they see the farm animals, then their grins spread even wider when they find out, “Oh, we can pet them!”

Perhaps you want to get lost with your sweetheart in the Big Corn-Maze. Maybe steal a kiss in one of the many dead-ends or switchbacks found in the ten-acre labyrinth? Chide each other facetiously for losing your way and walking around in circles.

“Didn’t we just pass that?”
“You said turn left, now look at us.”
“Oh look, another dead end…”

Church groups, sports teams and any other type of large groups are also more than welcome to visit Byrnside Branch Farm. They offer a group-rate to any party of fifteen or more. Join each other on a hayride (Do you remember those?!) through the pumpkin patch and pick your perfect pumpkins right off the vine.

Don’t forget to reserve a firepit!

Don’t forget to reserve a firepit for the close of your day so you can end the evening snuggled together around a campfire. They will even pre-light the fire for you upon your arrival, which is a touch I am personally so grateful for. Bring hot dogs for a weenie roast or, perchance, marshmallows and chocolate and graham crackers for s’mores…. Please? Maybe? Hopefully?

Pumpkin-pickin’ at Byrnside has fast-become my little family’s fall tradition. When my little ladies grow into adults, I hope when they get that first whiff of autumn air, memories of our laughter and love wash over them. And after I am long gone, I hope the memories hug them and make them warm and whisper to them that I still love them.

Whether you’re with your family, a bunch of friends, a church group, or you’re a fresh new couple… This year, make a memory. Slow down and pick the pumpkins.

Byrnside Branch Farm is open every weekend throughout October into early November. You can find out more about the farm on Facebook or byrnsidebranchfarm.com. To reserve your firepit or if you have any questions please call them at (304) 772-3131.

– Sarah Dale, Hashtag Lewisburg City Paper.

Also read: Take me out to the Cornmaze at Byrnside Branch Farm: Click here to read.