Our apple-picking adventures had the kids longing to visit a pumpkin patch — so, on Saturday we loaded up the minivan and drove to Blooms & Berries.
Blooms & Berries is a real, working farm located in Loveland. It’s been run by the Probst family since 1939, and open to the public since 1999 when Dave and Cathy Probst planted 5,000 strawberry plants and wished for the best! Blooms & Berries now harvests flowers and blooms, strawberries and blueberries and vegetables and pumpkins. It has U-Pick opportunities in the summer, a thriving seasonal farmers market, year-round produce stand and very popular fall festival.
I’ve heard rave reviews about Blooms & Berries Fall on the Farm festival — and it was even more fun than I could have imagined! Here are the highlights:
Farm Animals
You guys know how much my kids adore animals — and, to be honest, the barnyard at Blooms was by far the best we’ve been to. The animals were spread out across the grounds in large, very clean and well-kept pens. There were signs on each of the pens with fun facts and information about each animal. We saw cows, sheep, goats, geese, turkeys, chickens and mini donkeys. All of the animals were very friendly and my kids (and I!) loved petting them.
The Cornmaze
Blooms & Berries takes its corn maze seriously — this year, the seven-acre “Great Honey Caper” is reputed to take 45 minutes to complete (if you don’t get lost!). I say “reputed” because we didn’t even attempt it — the regular maze, at least. There’s a separate entrance to the left of the maze — and this smaller, kid-friendly maze takes around 15 minutes to complete.
Barnyard Games
Between the tug of war, egg race, corn hole, funny farm animals photo-ops and water-pumping game, there were lots of activities to occupy my kids’ interests and attention. The games were spread out nicely around the farm, so there weren’t long lines at any particular station. The older two loved the egg race; Harvey loved the play-able cowbells.
A Giant Playground
Scattered across the grounds were two slides (one big and one small), a swing set with horse swings and a giant mountain of climbable tires.
The giant slide was a hit with all three kids (and Daddy!) — and Harvey had a blast slipping and sliding up the tire mountain.
Tractor and Train Rides
Tractor-pulled hayrides regularly take families out to the pumpkin patches, which is such a treat as Blooms & Berries farm is drop-dead gorgeous (think fields of happy sunflowers, lush foliage and picturesque pumpkin patches). Younger kids, meanwhile, will love the Cow Train — which is absolutely hilarious to watch.
Kids ride in named cow cars that are pulled by a classic farm tractor — and these cows bump up and down during the ride, which my kids found very amusing! Each cow can hold two kids or an adult and toddler, so it’s great for the whole family!
Pumpkin Picking
In addition to Blooms & Berries’ pumpkin patch, there are literally piles of pumpkins everywhere from which to pick. Between the large and small pumpkins, pie pumpkins, “ugly pumpkins,” white “ghost” pumpkins, oddly shaped gourds, stalks of corn and bales of hay, Blooms & Berries has your fall decor covered. You’ll definitely want to grab a wheelbarrow — and go for it! We filled ours to the brim with a 30-pound pumpkin, 8 pound gourd, Cinderella pumpkin, pie pumpkin, ghost pumpkin and two tiny pumpkins which Harvey literally threw in as we were paying. All of this cost just $36 — and we had so much fun picking out our pumpkins and laughing about the funny shapes and sizes of the gourds.
I’d heard a lot of people rave about the Fall Festival at Blooms & Berries, so my expectations were pretty high. And, with weekend admission running $10/person, it’s not cheap.
But, it’s so worth it. My kids absolutely loved everything about our time at Blooms & Berries — and so did my husband and I. Fall on the Farm will definitely become an annual tradition for our family — and I will forever cherish the memories we made this year.
Blooms & Berries is located at 9669 S. St. Rt. 48, Loveland, OH 45140. Hours are Monday – Saturday: 10 a.m.-7 p.m. and Sunday: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Admission is $10/person (age 2 and up) on Saturday and Sunday and $7/person (age 2 and up) during the week. If you’re looking to go more than once (which I highly recommend!), consider the Fall on The Farm Season Pass, which runs $16/person (age 2 and up), and gets you unlimited admission from 9/19-10/31.
PS: For a complete list of pumpkin patches in the area, check out our 2015 Pumpkin Patch Guide!