Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Wickless Wednesday: Bates Nut Farm Trip!

Pretty very year as long as I can remember, I've gone to Bates Nut Farm. The family that owns the place started buying walnuts, then progressed into buying all other types of nuts. From there, they roast 'em and package 'em and sell 'em! In addition to the nuts, they have a pumpkin patch each October, and they used to have a Christmas tree portion of the farm, too.

Josh and I have a yearly tradition when it comes to Bates Nut Farm. First, we go get pumpkin pancakes early in the morning, and then head up to see Bates! We continued our yearly tradition this year. We take our time browsing in the General Store, where the nuts/fruits/salsas/fudge/baked goods are found, and often stop in the Farmer's Daughter, a shop for trinkets and toys and candles. After that, we go and feed the animals!

Here, you'll find photos of Bates, and the shenanigans we had. Enjoy!
(WARNING: Image Heavy!)
Bates Nut Farm has some gorgeously large trees throughout the farm! Of course, the leaves were falling like crazy, making the ground extra beautiful.
Here's a shot of the Farmer's Daughter trinket store. It's a little cozy looking house with all sorts of fun stuff. It has changed over the years and now focuses on more mass-appeal items, like toys and baubles, as opposed to jewelry and candles like I remember it. This time around, we didn't go into this store.
The General Store is where the good are housed. See all of those barrels? They are filled with candy! This store has tons of cool displays during Christmas and Thanksgiving. They had a nice mix of both. Right in front here, there was a big stand filled with ornaments.
I love the check-out registers, lol. They look so cool! The hand, you ask? I'll get to my ol' pal later.
I loved the Christmas tree display with the sunflowers. I was sort of sneaking around, not sure if I could take pictures, so I apologize if any of them are blurry. There were tons of signs for Thanksgiving, as well as handmade crafts and all sorts of sets for kids to enjoy.
SEE, THIS POST HAS A WAX POINT! Yankee Candles have been proudly sold at Bates Nut Farm as long as I can remember! Here, right in the front of the store, we found an assortment of fall scents, from Pumpkin Buttercream (lovely!) to Salted Caramel (meh). They also has votives, votive holders, and those weird scent beads.
UGGGHHH, I WANT THIS TREE IN MY HOUSE!!! It was huge and fluffy and has gigantic candy ornaments. As you can see, off to the right, the back part of Bates now houses even more gifty things: more signs, more toys, great little gems and jewels, rocks, personalized creations, etc!
...AND MORE YANKEE CANDLES! This was the Home Sweet Home display, one of my favorite scents, along with some great little holders and tins. Very cool, I liked the way it was put together. I ended up not buying any candles, but I was tempted.
Homemade and local Goat Milk products for sale! Soaps and lotions and things...I almost bought some, but didn't. I might go back and get some though!
Some random thing I found while wandering around the store....a serving plate made of Himalayan salt! How weird and cool is that?! I guess it's for multiple uses, too. I *almost* bought it, but actually found out you can buy them online, too.
Remember the hand from earlier? It's my old pal Cowboy Joe! Well, I call him that..anyways! There's a bench in the front of the store with this mannequin that turns his head and is generally creeptastic, so naturally, I had to take my picture with him. ;)
Now, for DA AMMMIIINALS!!!!!!!!
Some of these goats were sort of jerks, LOL. They were practically hopping the fence to get to our corn kernels!
...this dude was the worst. He headbutted the other 3 goats pictured, several times, I might add! Calm yourself, goatie, quit being a hog!
Josh feeding the swarm. He's adorable. :)
I just love this photo of the alpaca, he was all like, "haaaaaaaaaaai Lauren, 'sup bro!"
Another one, very cute. I really like alpacas. How many times can I say alpaca in one post? Alpaca.
Togetherness!
Da cheepsz. This sheep was totally side-eyeing me and my corn nubbinz multiples times.
Turkey! I may or may not have told him he was about to be dinner. WHAT?! I'm just being honest. :P
Bates always has tons of chickens.
Not a very good photo, but they also had 2 emus this year. Very cool, but far away!

I had a lot of photos of our haul, which included jams, marinades, all sorts of cool snacks, postcards, and trinkets, but the photos got deleted. :(

Hope you enjoyed sharing in our yearly tradition with us! :)

4 comments:

  1. This is kinda like The Little Farmer here in my area, the one hubby and I go to each fall. I really like yours though! I would have been all over the goat milk soaps and stuff. And that fluffy candy tree?! Want!!!

    Geez, I'm already looking forward to fall. lol

    ~Deb

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  2. How fun! That reminds me so much of the Nut Tree in Vacaville where we used to stop on our way up to my grandparents' house. Sadly, it has been replaced by an outlet mall :P

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  3. Looks like y'all had a great day! What a sweet tradition, those pumpkin pancakes sound like something I can get down on. What is your fav jam? The alpacas are cracking me up!!

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  4. Very cool!! This looks like a neat place to come and visit!! Cowboy Joe looks like a real riot! :D ;)

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