U-pick em: Dittmar Farms and Orchard offers fall delights in northwest Illinois

ELIZABETH — Back in the days when the Dittmar family first put down roots on their farm, people who wanted fresh produce would usually pick their own.

Things haven’t changed much.

A 150 years later, there are still Dittmars on the family farm and people are still picking their own. These days though, the family farm has grown into a business — Dittmar Farms and Orchard, located north of Elizabeth — and the people picking are their customers.

The sesquicentennial family farm in the rolling hills of rural Jo Daviess County offers customers a place where they can pick a peck of apples fresh from the tree, pluck raspberries off the bush, or haul away a pumpkin that they snapped off the vine.

That’s not all: There’s plenty of fun for the family too: hayrack rides around the farm, a cornfield maze, a petting zoo and playground equipment for the kids, and even live music on select weekends.

Mike Dittmar represents the sixth generation of his Dittmars to care for the farm, which has been in his family since 1854. He co-owns it with his parents, Richard and Peg Dittmar, who turned part of it into an agritourism business 15 years ago that’s been attracting both city and country folk since then.

“It’s all U-pick, family fun, just like on your grandpa’s farm,” Mike said. “Everything is so interactive and experience driven. It’s family oriented. We’ve had people who have hung around for four hours to have fun and enjoy music as well.”

The farm’s business season runs from late August to the end of October. Raspberries and a few apple varieties, such as honeycrisps and galas, are ready to be picked in the first couple of weeks. Pumpkins and other varieties of apples, such as Fujis and pink ladies, await plucking in October. Around 20 different apple varieties are available at various times during the season. Sweet corn also is grown on the farm and sold at local markets throughout the summer.

With new features and fun ideas added each year, the Dittmars enjoy finding new ways to put a smile on customers’ faces during their visits roaming the scenic hills and ridges. Inspired by the success of their slingshot gourd launcher, Mike constructed a large, wooden trebuchet that can fling pumpkins through the air — ones not quite suitable for sale — out toward an open field.

This season also is the first for the farm’s new store and concession building, which also includes restrooms and a sheltered picnic area. Having a building on the farm also meant that the Dittmars could finally make their apple cider donuts on site, after having rented a kitchen in Elizabeth for several years. With each new addition, the Dittmars have come a long way since its first days of business as a simple produce stand — and it’s been a lot of fun, not just for customers, but for the Dittmars too.

“It’s all about our history and it being all family-operated and run,” Mike said. “We were an operating dairy farm until the 1990s when my grandpa died, and we didn’t really do anything else for a while other than feed cows. About 15 years ago, we started in the agritourism business. We started with Army tents and porta-potties, and now we have all of this.”

Pumpkins were the crop that helped inspire the Dittmars to go into business. They grew a patch for friends and family to pick from and adding some social activities to make it more fun — and that inspired them to share that experience with the public.

“We started planting them and having a whole weekend where the neighborhood and friends and family to come over,” Peg said. “We had a fire pit, everybody brought food, we grilled out, and picked pumpkins. There were a couple of years where we did fireworks and other fun stuff. We had a lot of fun and it was amazing, so we started it with two Army tents and food from a commercial kitchen in town, and the rest is history.”

On top of the cost for produce, admission to the farm and orchard is $10 (children 3 and younger are free), which pays for most of the entertainment that is offered. Attractions such as the gourd slingshot and pumpkin-pitching trebuchet, pony rides, and opportunities to drive an antique farm tractor are available for an extra couple of dollars.

One attraction people won’t want to miss, Mike said, is a 25-minute haywagon ride around the farm, offering scenic views of the farm and a look at crops in progress. The shallow Mill Creek winds through and around the farm, and the hayride fords over the water twice during the trip. Tractor-driving experiences and ATV farm tours also are offered during the spring and summer.

When Mike is behind the wheel of the hayride trips, he enjoys stopping the wagon on the water to giving riders a chance to look around and soak it all in and enjoy the sights and sounds of the farm — seeing and hearing the gentle ripples and rushes of the water while they enjoy the view.

“We have the best hayride ever,” Mike said. “We have a lot of gorgeous views. You see lots of animals, a lot of deer, some bald eagles. Some babies will come on crying, and then after they get on the hayride it’ll knock them right out, it’s just so serene.”

The hayrides take some spooky twists and turns the last two Saturdays prior to Halloween, with scary sights and surprises along the path. The farm partners with local organizations to put a haunted path together, and the admission for each ride goes toward scholarships for local students.

In addition to running a agritourism business, the Dittmars also own a pair of vacation rentals on the farm where guests can stay to get away from their usual surroundings. The two-story Arrowhead Treehouse can sleep six, and offers access to Mill Creek. Hell’s Branch Cabin, with views of Driftless Area scenery, is also two stories and can sleep eight, and features two bathrooms, a laundry room and a four-season porch.

With visitors coming from all walks of life, the Dittmars hope those who may not be familiar with life on a farm will gain an appreciation of what hard work and peaceful play can be like.

“Fifty years ago, everyone had a grandpa or an uncle who had a farm that you went to in the fall,” Mike said. “There’s just something with the fall harvest that’s in our blood, as a nation, and it’s just awesome.”

Dittmar Farms and Orchard, 256 South Grebner Road in rural Elizabeth, is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $10, children three years and younger are free.

Find it on Facebook, go to dittmarfarms.com or call 815-218-6942 for more information and updates on special events.