Every farm on this page is in Iowa — unlike some rings in this Almanac, an hour out of Des Moines doesn’t put you across a state line in any direction. What it does put you in is a lot of different country: orchards west toward Adel and Earlham, pumpkins and evergreens south at Cumming, dairies north at Woodward and south at Prole, and pasture southeast in Marion County.
Three of these sit at the far edge of the hour or a touch past it. Berry Patch Farm is out at Nevada, northeast toward Ames. Crooked Gap Farm is at Knoxville, southeast. Blue Gate Farm is farther still, down at Chariton — we left it in because it drives into Des Moines every Saturday in season, which is how nearly everybody in town actually meets it.
Call first, or check their own page. Nearly every farm on this page runs on the crop, not the calendar — picking days move with the weather, and two of these places take visits by appointment only. Where a farm publishes hours we list them. Where it doesn’t, we say so instead of guessing.
pick your own apples, berries and peaches — go in season, call first — this lane, every state →
on-farm stores and country stores, open when the crop is in — this lane, every state →
farm dairies and herd shares, described in the farm’s own words — this lane, every state →
beef, pork, lamb, poultry and eggs sold direct off the pasture — this lane, every state →
patches, mazes and hayrack rides, roughly late September on — this lane, every state →
choose-and-cut, wreaths and roping, Thanksgiving into December — this lane, every state →
Answered off this page’s own list — nothing here that isn’t above.
Four farms in this ring run pick-your-own. Closest in is Iowa Orchard on Meredith Drive in Urbandale, which picks apples in more than twenty varieties from early September into mid-October and picks berries by appointment in June and July. West of the city, Wills Family Orchard at Adel has over 3,500 apple trees in twenty varieties plus organic peaches. South of it, Howell’s Greenhouse & Pumpkin Patch at Cumming picks flowers alongside its eighteen acres of pumpkins. The longest list belongs to Berry Patch Farm at Nevada, about an hour northeast: strawberries, black raspberries, blueberries, tart cherries, honeyberries, gooseberries and apples, with no admission charge to pick.
One farm in this ring advertises raw milk. Eden Ridge Acres at Prole, about fifteen minutes south of West Des Moines, milks a micro herd of 100% A2/A2 registered Jerseys grass-fed on pasture, and hands off at the farmhouse Tuesday and Thursday afternoons year round — visits are by appointment only. There is a second dairy on this page, Picket Fence Creamery at Woodward, but its milk is pasteurized on the farm rather than sold raw, so we list it in the dairy lane and not as a raw-milk source.
One farm, and it cuts the tree for you. Howell Tree Farm at Cumming has been running since 1970 on over fifty acres of evergreens about twenty minutes southwest of the city — firs and white pine with a limited run of Scotch pine, and they cut, shake, bale and load it. Wreaths, swags, centerpieces, patio trees and evergreen roping come off the same place. The season opens the Saturday before Thanksgiving and runs into late December. Do not confuse it with Howell’s Greenhouse & Pumpkin Patch next door: same road, same family name, different business, and no Christmas trees.
If you raise it, grow it, milk it or cut it within about an hour of Des Moines and you’re not on this page, that’s our mistake and we’d like to fix it. Free listing, your links, your words, gone the day you ask.