Day Trip-Dell ‘Osso Farm

~ Stacy Sorrells

Let me start with some updates.

We’ve decorated our home and added several more plants to the garden. These plants were jammed into the corner recently to help meet their full sun needs.
We’ve tossed a few of the pumpkins out because of minor molding. They were pretty while they lasted.
Lulu finally enjoyed her Covid postponed birthday trip to the groomers. Her bath, brush, and lavender treatment took four hours.  Since her bath, we’ve had to pass a sniff test before she allows us to pet her. This is her, “Did you wash your hands?” face.

Mid-October, I discovered that Trader Joes has a pumpkin ice cream! It was fantastic and tasted almost like the one at Lemo’s Farm. I bought a pint, savored it for about a week, and paid for it with a minor case of adult acne, totally worth it.

While at Michael’s, getting set materials for my youngest daughters stop-motion videos, I found this (previously mentioned in my Hello (again) fall post) for 50% off! I have no idea what to make in it.

And now…

Day Trip to Dell  ‘Osso Farm Lathrop California.

October 19th, 2020

It had been well over a decade since I’d made the drive out to Dell ‘Osso. It was a sign of the times yet again as we needed to purchase our tickets ahead of time/online like we did for Lemo’s. By this time, Covid rules had changed a bit, so upon our mid-week arrival, we found the farm comfortably crowded and high noon hot.

It had changed since I’d last visited. The cornfield maze was half its previous size, and large play structures sat upon the exposed/grassy fields.

The last time I visited Dell ‘Osso, my 18-year-old was a toddler. We lost her in the cornfield maze. The cornfield maze was the first stop we made on this trip (after using the port-o-potty, of course).

The maze came with a map and a riddle.
We entered it via path number one, found four of the eight clues, then exited the maze via path two. The heat got to us.

Seeking shade, we stood in line for the train. Once on the train, a recording ensued about the farm itself. The recording was excellent, informative, and explained the shortening of the cornfield. We passed through several sections of citrus trees, watered in part by reclaimed water. Though D.O. wanted to expand the farm, the decision was to scale back; to not take resources from other farmers during the ongoing drought. Super thoughtful.

New Citrus Trees. They even have pomegranate trees!

After the train ride, we went in the rat rollers

I’m not in the picture but I used the roller on the far right.
Then we were off to the haunted house.

The old haunted house at Dell ‘Osso was a shack nestled against the corn maze. This time it was a castle. I don’t like haunted houses at all. So my strategy to get through it with my equally *chicken shit daughters, was to find a group of bold-looking souls and follow closely behind them. And that is precisely what we did.

Here is what I remember about the haunted castle. It was very dark and the path was narrow and winding. I saw a few scary things like a man in an electric chair, a bed full of bloody doll heads, but mostly I remember the blond puff of hair of the woman in front of me and the feel of my eldest daughter holding/stretching out the back of my shirt. My eighteen-year-old was the bridge between myself and my youngest. Meanwhile, I just kept my eye on that puff of blonde hair, and when it got too dark, I stared at the white on the woman’s shoes.  

We took turns shooting apples across the field.

Then we headed to the other side of the farm to spend some time with the animals.

We were on our way out, just as the afternoon crowd started making its way in. My youngest got a churro. We spent less time there than we did at Lemo’s as it was much hotter than the weather app predicted.

We had a great day and made some splendid memories.  

*We are not chicken shit, we just are selective about what to put in our experience, we went through the haunted house, just so that we could say that we did.