Tis the season for pumpkins and apples and the spookiest things! So, if you’re on Long Island and looking to create the perfect fall content, here are my recommendations for you:
WaterDrinker Family Farms:
https://www.water-drinker.com - > click here to check out their website!
This is the same place I went to for the Tulip Festival. Each season Waterdrinker, located out east in Manorville, has a different vibe that never disappoints.
It’s $15 admission to enter the festival, however the pumpkin patch is completely free.
The pumpkin patch is complete with a pumpkin house (perfect for photos), a windmill, a wagon, flowers, and of course lots and lots of pumpkins. Honestly, most of my content was taken here, so it’s not necessary to pay for the festival however it is great to support local businesses as such, so paying does really help them out.
If you do pay for the festival, you can have access to the sunflower fields as well!
Honestly most people were families that were taking hayrides, looking at the animals, playing on the play-structures, and bouncy pads - that if you just want to go to take pictures at the pumpkins and sunflowers, those two sections are pretty people-free.
We went on a Saturday, so we actually went in the afternoon like 2pm and it seemed to be a lull. There were a lot of cars and a lot of people, but again I think all of them were at the nearby restaurant next door, or playing on the play-structures, that the pumpkin field / sunflower field had plenty of opportunities to take pictures without people in the background. Of course there were still people, but it wasn’t as bad as you’d expect.
Schmidt’s Farms :
https://schmittfarms.com/fall-weekdays/ - > click here to check out there website!
Also for pumpkins, as of writing this post, I haven’t been here yet this year, but Schmidt’s Farms in Melville is usually my go to. If you go early enough in the season, it’s usually not too packed. Their pumpkin fields are really big and filled, so it’s easy to take a pumpkin filled picture - plus you get corn fields in the background (as opposed to water drinker which does have traffic).
This one is $10 admission, they sometimes have sunflowers. Some years I’ve been there and they do, some years they don’t so it’s hard to predict! Their website currently lists sunflower picking so possibly!
This is my picture from last year 2020:
Apple Picking
I also wanted to get pictures in an Apple Orchard, so we went to Harbes’ farms out east in Calverton, however I do not recommend. I went here based on other online reviews and because it appears to be the biggest, but it was not great. You have to pay $20 per person just to get into the apple orchard whether you want apples or not, (you can’t just buy one apple bag per person or per family, you have to pay for every single person entering the area which I thought was a bit much. I was okay with paying $20 for the two of us to share a bag, but being forced to each buy a bag didn’t sit right) especially because majority of the apples were on the ground or not ripe yet. There’s beautiful sections with all perfect red apples on the trees (exactly what I wanted in my photos) but they were roped off to customers with guards standing there. There were other things to do there but it was so packed. So, while I did get a few good pictures, overall no, this place was not worth it (not even just for apple picking!)
There was a much smaller apple orchard a few minutes away - Helen’s. I also read online about Lewin’s. However, I’m not sure what the deal is so I can’t recommend those yet either!
Jack O’Lanterns
One of my favorite things to do every Halloween season is to go on a Jack O’Lantern walk!
For several years in a row I went with my family to Old Westbury Gardens for Rise of the Jack O’Lanterns and it was so fun to see all the amazing artistry. Thousands of carved pumpkins - some like movie characters and scenes, some like Halloween things, some faces - one year they even had the Zodiac wheel! - all super creative.
In 2020, Old Westbury didn’t host the Jack O’Lanterns, and unfortunately it looks like in 2021 they will not be back either.
However Old Bethapge Village Restoration hosted it last year and it was really great too! This one’s called Blaze Long Island (here’s the website to check out: https://pumpkinblaze.org/blaze-long-island.html )
It’s a really cool, fun, walkthrough experience, so if you’re around I highly recommend that as well! It may be a little hard to take pictures of yourself unless you have a really great low-light camera, but taking pictures of the jack o’lanterns is always great content.
Here's my pic from last year 2020!
Happy Spooktober, Loves, hope you enjoy all the fall you can!
