FALL DOESN'T TRULY BEGIN... for some autumnists before they've consumed an edible or beverage with "pumpkin spice" in the name. Other people wait to see that first leaf tumble from a tree branch before declaring that the season has truly arrived, while others have to don a pair of plastic Dracula chompers or perform a Frankenstein walk to the delight of their friends. But there are others among us, many others, who won't fully gather fall up in their arms, like a bouquet full of freshly fallen foliage, before they sit on a hay barrel, or something else made of hay. For hay and fall go together in many a mind, from the wee hay barrels sold at local craft stores to the hay rides, spooky or sweet, that clip-clop in more rustic parts of the region. And one of the hay-barrel-iest spots in all the land, or at least the land close to Los Angeles, is now in its autumn-big prime, as it shall be through Monday, Oct. 31. It's...
THE UNDERWOOD FAMILY FARMS... Fall Harvest Festival. You know this mondo Moorpark agricultural affair, the one with the themed weekends and the pig races and the corn cannons and the goats that saunter about on planks placed above the farm's hay-filled grounds. It appears in your social media feeds, again and again, as your friends post photos of their kids sitting among pumpkins at Underwood's sizable patch. The only question is this: Will you don some dungaree overalls for your festival visit? The better to enjoy all of that hay? Or is a summery sundress in order, since October can still be a mite warm? You choose, while you choose when you go. Weekdays are a little less bustling, but weekends have the themes, from the Antique Tractor Weekend on Oct. 15 and 16 to the All About Pumpkins Weekend on Oct. 29 and 30. Ready for all of those hay barrels? And roasted corn on the cob? And the corn maze? And finding your perfect gourd for purchase? Read all, from admission prices to special happenings. People, it is October, and time to hay it up, happily, in honor of the spirit of the season.
