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It’s a Country Living: Sweetapple Farm enjoying fruits of another successful season

By Gretchen Dowler 3 min read

VINCENT -- Sweetapple Farm is already half way through its 24th season and continues to have great success with a lifetime of memories.

Sweetapple Farm is a family-owned farm that had its start in 1940.

Carroll and Clara Barrett with their new baby moved their family from the village of Vincent to the surrounding farm of rolling hills. They raised four sons and two daughters there while dealing in feeder cattle and a variety of field crops. Jim and his wife Mona eventually began a dairy operation at the farm, naming the first cow "Sweetapple" because that name was written on the pipe in the parlor where they milked that first cow. Jim began growing pumpkins to give to friends and to sell by the road in the late 1990s. In 2000, it was decided to expand the pumpkin acreage and establish a place for others to visit and experience the autumn harvest time.

"It's a family affair," said Mona Barrett about not only the hard work and dedication of the Barretts and their neighbors and friends, but also of all the guests that show up to Sweetapple during the harvest season. "It's all about family here, seeing all the moms and dads and grandparents bringing all of their kids out to have fun here at the farm."

Since the farm's official opening to the public in 2000, Sweetapple has had plenty of fall activities for all ages, including the yearly themed corn maze. This year the corn maze's theme is The Farmer in the Dell. Within this year's design visitors are able to find a farm scene complete with the sun shining down on a group of farm animals: a chicken, a cow, a pig and a goat; finishing it off with a farm in the back.

The corn maze, year after year, with its theme teaches children and adults alike the importance of the different aspects of agriculture. This year the maze will teach attendees about farm animals and how the sun makes things grow, she said.

Other activities at Sweetapple Farm include hayrides and hay mazes, pine cone crafts, make-and-stuff scarecrows, paint a pumpkin, cow milking simulators, feeding goats and observing other farm animals, the Ag-tivity Center, the Nursery Rhyme Garden and Garden Word Find.

Sweetapple Farm also offers a market where those visiting the farm can purchase homemade drinks and treats, including caramel apples, sloppy joes, whole hog sausage sandwiches, lattes, cider, and more. They also sell their own grass-fed beef and whole-hog sausage packages that are raised there on the farm and from neighboring farms.

"It's a wonderful community," Barrett said. "Our friends and family, and especially our neighbors, are so supportive."

Sweetapple Farm has been open this season since Sept. 17 and will have its closing day Oct. 28. During October they are open 4-9 p.m. Fridays, 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Saturdays and 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sundays. Tours and event spaces are available July through October at the farm as well. Admission for Sweetapple Farm is $7 per person, ages 2 years of age and up, and includes most activities.

More information about Sweetapple Farm can be found by going to its website at sweetapplefarm.com or by contacting them directly at 740-678-7447 or sweetapplegoats@gmail.com.

Gretchen Dowler can be reached at gdowler@newsandsentinel.com

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