5 Things I Learned About Goats at Enchanted Acres Pumpkin Patch in IA

When I told my friends I was planning on driving to visit a pumpkin patch in Iowa, they looked at me like I was crazy. Why on earth would I drive a couple of hours away for a pumpkin patch?

When I was contacted by some friends in Northern Iowa to see if I would be interested in visiting the Enchanted Acres pumpkin patch in Iowa, I was a little skeptical at first too. I can get pumpkins anywhere. But what I found was something so much more special.

This post was sponsored by Enchanted Acres Pumpkin Patch. As always, this in no way affected my opinions about this place.

Enchanted Acres Pumpkin Patch in Iowa

Shannon built her farm as a place for her kids to grow up being able to appreciate simple things in life, like waking up to a sunrise on the farm.

Shannon wanted them to be able to let their imaginations run free and not be confined to what was inside. What she has created is not only memories for her family, but for thousands of others that visit.

Pumpkin Varieties

Enchanted Acres Pumpkin Patch is a few hours south of the Twin Cities, in the town is Sheffield in Northern Iowa. The first thing that set this pumpkin patch apart from any others is the variety of pumpkins. They had more varieties than I’ve ever seen. More than I knew existed.

They had the traditional carving pumpkins, but also the Red Warty Thing, Jarrahdale blue pumpkins, Baby Pam’s, Blue Doll, Cinderella, Cotton Candy and so much more. I almost picked up a few of the harder-to-find varieties for a friend.

My favorite part about the farm was the animals or more specifically the goats. Aside from the pumpkins, it really set this experience apart from anything else. After spending a little time there, I learned a few new things about goats.

5 Things I Learned About Goats

1. Goats Will Eat Anything.

We picked up some goat feed from the main store by had fun feeding them. When the food runs out, they’ll go after your shoe laces, coat sleeves, and anything they can get a hold of to see if it’s tasty.

Thankfully they didn’t chomp with any teeth, and you can easily get your stuff back. I think one of them was enjoying a few rocks. And for some reason, they didn’t listen when we said ‘NO DONT EAT THAT!’

2. Goats are not good at taking turns.

We always taught our kids to share. Goats, on the other hand, would prefer to keep everything for themselves. When you hold out your hand with a little bit of food, they will gladly push over their friends to get it.

Either that or they think whoever gets closest to the food or looks the cutest will be the winner. My daughter decided to “Feed the fat one” because he was off by himself and no pushing was needed.

3. Even though you can put goats on a leash, they don’t walk like a dog.

They do have the running away and pulling things down. Once my daughter got a hold of one of the goats, it took off running dragging her behind. The next challenge was, to get the goat back.

We talked nice and tried to get it to follow us. We were in a whole different ball game with this one. No amount of sweet talking worked.

When all else fails, sometimes you gotta pick them up. We were told that these goats have not been leash trained. But others will walk nicely.

4. Goats like to do Yoga.

This has been a new trend in the yoga and naturalist world. But until you see it in action, it’s not something that I really believed.

While you work on your poses, the Goats at Enchanted Acres will hang out and give you a little bit of extra motivation.

I personally have attempted to do Yoga around my dog, with limited success. The dog kept distracting me. I give these people credit.

5. Goats enjoy the occasional pumpkin.

Just like humans, they like to snack on a few gourds. We saw the remnants of a few pumpkins they were enjoying. And when you on a pumpkin farm, you can’t blame them.

Other Activities at Enchanted Acres

In addition to the animals, Enchanted Acres Pumpkin Patch also has a bunch of things for the kids to explore. Here are my favorites:

Mini Corn Pit

The Mini Corn pit was my kid’s favorite. Unlike the huge corn pits at the corn mazes, this one was kid size. Complete with tools and pales for the kids to use their imaginations. They didn’t want to leave.

They also have a nice size play area for the kids to enjoy. Some elements had been donated to Enchanted Acres, like the materials for the toy tractor. The exterior has been custom built to look like a life-size tractor complete without authentic parts.

Tractor Ride

After the kids got to play, we took a tractor ride around the property. The driver took us all over the place through the wooded area, and all around the outside of the pumpkin patch, where the staff was picking the pumpkins right off the vine. The farm had all kinds of different hidden area’s that looked perfect for hosting events.

Pumpkin Painting

Inside the barn, the kids got to pick out their own pumpkins to paint. They had everything set up for kids to turn them into their own works of art.

They also hosted Books in the Barn story time, and face painting. Almost everything was included with the cost of admission, which meant I didn’t have to tell my kids no at every turn.

Events

The Pumpkin Patch is always hosting different events. It’s one of Shannon’s favorite things to do and sets the farm apart from the rest.

The weekend we were there, they had a Fancy Nancy Party, and they were celebrating Heritage Fest.

Throughout the season, they also host Disney Weekends, Cartoon Character Weekends, and other themed parties. It’s never a dull moment.

Food and other Treats

Inside the barn, they had their Snack Shack with popcorn, snacks and lunch food, including all Beef Hotdogs and Loose Meat sandwiches.

Their market had Mums and other gifts, including Fall and Halloween décor, locally made Trainwreck Wine, Honeys, Jelly, and mixes.

They can even put together custom-made gift baskets that make for perfect hostess gifts. We even found some s’mores kits.

We ended our adventure outside by the fire pit in some swinging benches and roasted our marshmallows. The kids have become masters at roasting after this past camping.

We are now considering building our own set of swings to set up around our backyard fire pit to keep a little bit of enjoyment at home.

If you are looking for a bit of goat love, some family fun or just want to find unique pumpkin varieties, check out Enchanted Acres Pumpkin Patch in Iowa.

They are open weekends through October. For more great things to do this fall, check out my post on Autumn in Minnesota | 28 Things To Do In The Twin Cities.

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