Who knew there was a hands on alpaca farm right in the Twins Cities. Owner has a farm with full…read moregrown and baby alpacas plus a small gift shop with alpaca wool merchandise for purchase. For $10 you can take Salomon and Talledega out for a leisurely stroll around the marked trail surrounding the farm. 80% of the trail is pretty shaded so nice during the summer time but still hot. Sometimes our alpacas just wanted to stop and stare at the lady alpacas from across the trail. It was a moment trying to get them focused on the exercise. Lastly, we purchased some alpaca wool mittens and socks which were so soft and comfy. Check their website for events or appointments to visit.

So much fun! Who doesn't like baby animals, cookies & cupcakes?! The alpacas were so cute! Cutest…read moredonkeys, baby goats, chickens, turkeys, rooster & kitties! Surprise gift shop & bakery! Beautiful selection of alpaca yarn!

I went with my wife and toddler to see the tulips here in May. While the farm and flowers…read morethemselves were quite nice, there were several factors that made this a negative experience. The primary one, that I'll write about here, was very poor line management and a huge lack of clarity. They have "Tickets" and "Wristbands" buying a "ticket" makes you eligible for a "wristband, but they are not the same thing. They had a terrible solution. Where you wait in an insanely long line (literally an hour long) to get a "ticket" then you have to go all the way back to another insanely long line to get a "wristband" in order to get in the hayride that takes you to the flowers (they would not allow people to walk). There was not clear signage which lead to a lot of confusion that really slowed things down. What made things worse is that we were there right at opening time, so we completed the idiotic process properly. But about an hour in the staff realized how bad their idea was, and tried to combine the lines which led to a ton of people being able to budge us, which was really unfortunate and frustrating. I certainly would never visit this place again on a weekend. It was such a poor experience. Maybe going during the week when visitation is not at peak could be feasible.

Went back after a few years. It was a lot busier which is to be expected however they can not…read morehandle how many people are going. There are no signs telling you where to get what. We bought tickets online in advance, but there was no sign for online sales. Then once we finally found the right line there's only one iPad so the guy had to walk away to get it to scan our tickets. Once you get out of the main area (we ended up walking because only two trackers were going and the line was super long) it was good. We liked the lower area but the front was a total mess and took way more time than it needed to. Pretty disappointed. Hopefully they can fix the front area before next season. Also, there were SO many bees.

This is a lovely lavender oasis. I have enjoyed my monthly subscription. In season, I took my…read moregrandchildren lavender picking. Marie is a wealth of botanical knowledge and has wonderful products in the shop.

My mom and I went here for the u-pick lavender experience this past weekend. We were greeted by a…read moreyounger gentleman who gave us the run down on how to cut the lavender. He also gave us a wood ring that we could fill up with any lavender and this was included in the price we paid beforehand. When we went there was tall and short lavender plants (the names are escaping me) and a white lavender which was unique! It was extremely hot but we enjoyed taking in the smells of the lavender and admiring all the busy bees. There is a cute shop onsite with different things made from the lavender grown just feet away!

I visited this farmers' market last Saturday on a friend's recommendation. It has all the…read moreingredients I love - it is small, perhaps 40 vendors at the most, mostly Hmong. The market is in a parking lot with plenty of left-over space for parking. It focuses exclusively on fresh vegetables, herbs and some flowers. The enormous variety of greens I found here left me dizzy. For the first time in the USA, I found red amaranth greens!! And then, jute greens - yes, they are delicious stir-fried with garlic. There were gorgeous squash blossoms as well as tender squash greens. There were several greens that were new for me and the vendors, many of them women, suggested how to cook them. I got a huge bouquet of zinnias for $5, and big fat bundles of basil, cilantro, dill, each for a dollar. The market also had more common produce like cucumber, green beans, zucchini, spring onions, new potatoes, etc. I am definitely driving across town to this farmers' market - can't wait for Saturday to arrive.

Not to be all sassy but I feel like this farmer's market is nothing compared to the Minneapolis…read moreFarmer's Market...it's pretty small and does not have as nice of a selection of fresh produce. Most of the vendors sell the exact same items for the same price so there's not really an advantage to walking around and browsing. The market itself is located in the parking lot of a strip mall so you can just assume anytime you go there on the weekends the lot is going to be a huge cluster. Prices range from $1-$10 for items and it really is limited to fruits, vegetables, and maybe some flowers depending on the season. If you are looking to spend a couple hours browsing for unique breeds of fresh produce, flowers, hot food vendors, or gourmet/artisan items...THIS MARKET IS NOT FOR YOU. If you happened to forget to pick up some carrots or lettuce from the grocery store in the strip mall as you are walking out to your car, this market might be a better fit. I would say if you don't live in the frog town area, it's just not worth the stress of University Avenue and pedestrian traffic for the trip out here.

We love Little Hill!…read more In the summer, it's such a great way to start a beautiful summer morning with picking fresh blueberries. Their operation is always very organized and the owners are so friendly. Their farm store is really nice as well because they bring in great stuff from other local farms and local makers so it's nice to get so much in one trip. Just last week, we got frozen berries, beef from a local farm, root veggies and popcorn from their neighboring farm, Little Hill syrups, and locally made tea blends. Way better than going to the grocery store! Thank you Little Hill, keep up the great work!

First time to Little Hill Berry Farm and it was a blast. The stay were so sweet and friendly as…read morewell as helpful. Aaron provided info on how to pick blueberries. The weather was amazing and it was not a bad drive from Minneapolis. Would definitely recommend and will go again!

I'm from California and wanted to experience Minnesota in the fall. On our way back from seeing the…read moreleves change we found Fox Farm Market that completes our fall trip. This place is a great place to pick out that special pumpkin with your family. The gift shop is worth the visit. The shop smelled incredible with making you feel welcomed. I read that they had delightful jams so I pickup 2 jars along with pumpkin bread. Must see !!!

This place is simply amazing. October brings pumpkins, spooky ghosts, and the best gift shop…read moreanywhere. Dick suffered a stroke in Spring of 2018, but he works daily. Offers up warm cider and hands out pennies for gumballs! December brings snowmen, Santa and so many wintery decorations. We shop the gift shop for unique crafts and knick-knacks! Seek them you

What a pleasure this place is the owner is always happy and helpful. I visit this place from the…read moretime it open until it closes every season. From berries to tomatoes to pumpkins this place does not disappoint!

Staff was polite. The variety was okay. Pricing is similar to others in the area. Quality of the…read moreraspberries we picked was not great but that could be that we went at a time in the season when they weren't particularly ripe. I sorta wish an employee had given us a heads up that the raspberries wouldn't be particularly sweet. We would have picked flowers instead so they still would have gotten business.

Planning a family outing, one of my cousins suggested the pizza farm. I was intrigued, but a little…read moreskeptical, since pizzas don't exactly grow on farms. The farm itself is cute. Plenty of space to park and lots of room to sit out and enjoy your day. There are hiking trails, goats, outdoor games, and, the day we happened to visit, there was also live music. There were 6 of us in our group, so we ordered 3 pizzas and I saw pizza fries and wanted those, so we got those as well. Since they do wood-fired here, I was thinking they would be similar to Punch in terms of size, and I was sorely mistaken. 3 pizzas and pizza fries was all together too much for the 6 of us. In hindsight, I'd probably skip the pizza fries, since they were also the same size as the pizzas and the crust wasn't terribly crispy (definitely neopolitan style), the fries couldn't dunk in the sauce very easily. We also had the Ole, Buster, and Lola pizzas. The dessert pizza sounded so good too, but we were way too full for that. You are encouraged to BYOB here, but they also have a small selection of taps and wine available as well. The Pizza Farm is definitely worth a stop by!

Such a fun place to go in the summer with family and friends! The pizza is really good. We had the…read moreField of Dreams which was a weekly feature with sweet corn from Iowa that was delicious. We also had the pizza fries which was basically garlic bread but really good. The pizza was large and we had lots of leftovers. So much fun interacting with the animals too!

Great place to visit for a family fun adventure. It's really easy to just walk in and start roaming…read morearound. There are wagons and some gravel road/trails that meander the property. If bringing a stroller, I'd suggest a jogging stroller or something with inflatable wheels. There are tons of pumpkins, all different sizes for carving. If you're looking for something more decorative, there are gourds galore! If you want something unique, they have all kinds of bumpy, lumpy textures pumpkins too. Of course there are apples, you can pick your own or grab a bag from the store. I've never had donuts but apparently they're good, I do know the caramel apples and caramel corn are delicious. For activities...take your pick between a small little zoo, I'd say more observation than petting. I saw pigs, bunnies, chickens and goats. There are a couple corn mazes but they aren't free, buy entry at the store cashier. They do have an area for a little bonfire some days and there are trails and a big pile of hay bales to climb around on. Pick your own apples is definitely an activity too! Nice little gem out there in Oronoco!

They do a great job!!! If you like apples, pumpkins, and a great atmosphere, this is the place to…read morego.

Wow! This is an impressive butcher shop! Sausage and meats galore. Over 100 different flavors of…read morebrats, etc?!! What a great selection and very much worth the drive. Friendly service and family owned staff give you all the intel and 412 you need.

This place is a 51 minute drive from my house in suburban Minneapolis and I chose to go there when…read moreit was snowing and the roads were slick. At some point it was like I was in the movie Fargo, a road in the middle of nowhere. But once I got there, they were friendly and efficient. They got me my half a hog quickly and stacked my boxes in my car. Couldn't have been easier. They had freezers and refrigerators full of other meats and cheeses, cheese trays for parties, one guy was getting smoked salmon that looked really good.