Schnepf Farms: The Shops

Another one of the fun little draws to Schnepf farms is the various little shops. While the shops themselves had some really unique items in them, purchasing from these shops is going to ruin your chances of a cheap trip (staying under $100 for a couple). The first place my girlfriend and I went when we arrived was to the back corner of the farm where there are a few large trees with a rustic looking shop that looked like it belonged in the swamps of the deep south. When we walked in there was a tiny bakery counter, a few shelfs full of preserves priced at around $5.95 - $8.95 depending on the product within them, as well as a donut making machine maned by a single older gentleman. If you've never had homemade preserves, or just want something fun and tasty to take home with you, splurging on a jar or two of the homegrown and homemade preserves is well worth the money. I avoided the section because I'm not a huge vegetable person and I was raised on my mom's jams and jellies so I am partial to hers.

The donut machine is only set up for the Pumpkin and Chili Festival and it makes pumpkin spice donuts, which are some of the best donuts I have ever tasted. You can buy the donuts by the dozen or half dozen, but we just grabbed one to split since we already had a slice of caramel apple crunch pie. The pie was one of the best slices of apple pie I think I have ever had. The apples were perfectly sweet and had just a tiny bit of crunch in them, the crust was buttery and not even slightly burnt at the edges, and the caramel sauce drizzled over the top tasted like it was homemade as well. If you want to grab a whole pie to take home, they offer apple pie, pumpkin pie, and caramel apple pie all at around $12 per pie, the pies are well worth it, but again avoid these to manage this as a cheap trip.

Scattered around the rest of the farm were a few smaller shops, a sweet shop, a shop devoted entirely to preserves that was like being in an old country store, and a general tourist trap store with lots of odd little knick-knacks. Now that I've hopefully got everyone's mouths watering with thoughts of sweets and baked goods, I'll fill ya'll in on the "meat" of the festival and rate the chili tomorrow!

Our grand total spent in shops around the farm was $1 for a stick of rock candy (you should have seen my girlfriend's eyes light up!), and $3.50 for a slice of pie and a fresh donut! Grand total so far for the trip : $24 admission (2 tickets @ $12), $4.50 in the shops = $28.50

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