Ozark Living

and some of our wooded lake areas provide yet another way to view the great outdoors. Bella Vista's many lakes abound with opportunities for this also, and small pontoons are rentable by the hour from Lake Loch Lomond. 4 Pumpkin Patch & Carve - Arkansas has always had rural routes. I hope we will always keep this agriculture culture alive here because it's been our backbone for so long and really makes the area a bucolic paradise in parts. I grew up here – so I'm a bit nostalgic for the farms and land. And some farmers take a cue from fall and put in pumpkin patches for public picking. Cave Springs Ozark Corn Maze & Pumpkin Patch as well Fayetteville's McGarrah Farms provide great spots to pick your gourd of choice and take it home to carve or set on display. So many colors and easy to do with the whole family, pumpkins are such a wonderful fall tradition I've never wanted to give up, even as I've become an adult. 5 Tailgate a Football Game - Being an adult has also opened up opportunities I may not have had as a kid. Razorback football games are in full swing come September and that means tailgates are too! Tailgates, for me as a chef and foodie, are actually more fun and cheerful camaraderie than the games themselves. I love being outside DW Reynolds stadium in Fayetteville with close friends over a beer and my friend Hodie's hand-dipped corndogs, just hearing the game, watching the touchdown fireworks and cheering from the tailgate hill. It's the best! No crowded stadium seats with all the fun! But seeing at least one game, whether in person or from your home TV is a great way to celebrate the beginning of football season. Heck, some people even plan weddings and birthdays around them. Now, I probably wouldn't go that far! 6 Go Hunting - This fall- themed activity might be one of the only things I'll get up early for, besides fishing at first light. Hunting in Arkansas is the same timing too! Animals are more mobile at dawn and dusk, so to get your white tail buck, you'll wanna catch them early in the morning. Now, you'll have to get tags and all your licenses through the right channels, but there's nothing like the view from a blind as the sun rises while you await a deer to walk into view. I will use all parts of the animal and dress it myself, so nothing is wasted. I appreciate the plentiful game Arkansas (particularly the Ozarks) have always presented, such that nearly anyone can hunt with the right accreditation because of the plentiful supply that must be slimmed down. Hunters really are some of our biggest advocates for conservation by doing what they do each fall. 7 Bake a Pie - Now if hunting makes you squeamish, that's alright. You can always bake a pie. That's another great fall Ozark tradition with our historic connection to orchards we have always held. Peaches, apples, and also ample wild berries have provided the fillings for many a country pie over the years. You can visit the annual Lincoln Apple Festival in September to get your bag of apples, for baking, and be inspired by the small "Apple Town" that once was quite the hub for the industry in the late 1800's to the early 1920's when Arkansas supplied most of our nation's apples! I'd recommend making your own crust if you can but you can also purchase store-bought and do a double-crust on a pie to save time. There's something simple and edifying about baking a pie. 8 Sip Hot Apple Cider Outside - Apples may not always end up in a pie, though. I've always enjoyed a fall tradition of at least one morning with hot apple cider in nature. Now this can be your back porch at first light or on a hike in a thermos over on Hawksbill Crag or on the bike cruising the Razorback Greenway. It just feels very autumnal and special. Apple cider, even spiked, was something the Ozark folk would often do with leftover peels and remains of apples, and you'll find some of those tributes to our past within the walls of Black Apple Crossing, our first state cidery, in downtown Springdale, in case you feel like going super-local. Just keep in minds this is the cider with all the fermentation, so only 21 and up on that beverage. 9 Corn Maze - I love getting lost in a labyrinth of corn at least one time in the fall. Cave Springs Corn Maze & Pumpkin Patch has a good location for this. I'd go early in the season for any maze discovery, so the corn isn't too trampled down, so the path will still be challenging to discover. Going at Halloween comes with scares, by the way, at many of these places, so go in September. 10 Craft Fair - It's not all War Eagle in the craft fair world – although that may be our biggest, outside of Rogers near the historic War Eagle grist mill. And it's beautiful out there for the fall foliage drive but you will see crowds. But it's got a full selection over many acres. Smaller craft fairs happen the same weekend around NWA including Spanker Creek in Bella Vista and other smaller towns. You'll see vintage and antique stores pull wares the curb in the spirit of all the folks visiting in town looking for a great deal. It's a great time to shop for holiday gifts and just enjoy the outdoors in the crisp dropping temps compared to the summer heat. The craft fairs really showcase the fall spirit and mark the turning of the season well. So whether you're into the outdoors or food or great experiences, you can find it all in September in the great state of Arkansas. OZARK LIVING • S E P T E M B E R 2023 • 17

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