Bengston's Pumpkin Farm has Loads of Autumn Fun

The corn maze and pumpkin patch are just two of the features available at Bengston's Farm.

Prime Pastimes

Last-Minute Halloween To-Do List

Prime Pastimes is here to rescue the procrastinators who have put off carving a pumpkin or creating a costume, not to mention coming up with a costume.

It’s Friday, and as you are hopefully aware, Monday is Halloween. That means you have one last weekend in October to visit a corn maze, venture through a haunted house, purchase goods at the French Market, carve a pumpkin and finish making a costume. If you’ve put off the pumpkin carving and costume creating until the last minute, like me, guess what? The last minute has arrived. Since I haven’t missed a single year of pumpkin carving, ever, I feel confident that I can help you through your fears of carving and/or destroying your pumpkin. Then, we’ll figure out what costume you still have time to throw together. The first step to creating the perfect carved pumpkin is to choose the perfect pumpkin. When it comes to carving, they are not …

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Prime Pastimes

Get Into the 'Spirit' for Halloween Hollow (And Send Us Your Photos)

This weekend is Mokena’s 30th Annual Halloween Hollow, featuring more festival fall activities than ever before.

With Halloween weekend is only two weeks away, there's no better way to embrace the Halloween spirit than by attending Mokena's annual Halloween Hollow this weekend, which is celebrating its 30th year. "We're making it bigger and better this year," said Erin Cortilet, special events and trip coordinator at the Mokena Park District. That includes an extended hour of fun and added food vendors tonight, for the same price as previous years. From 5 to 10 p.m., you and your family and friends can head over to Main Park, 10925 La Porte Road, for carnival rides and food. Cortilet said there is a $20 wristband available tonight only for unlimited carnival rides. Halloween Hollow costs $3 to park, plus the cost of additional activities. The haunted…

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Prime Pastimes

8 Things To Do With All Those Pumpkins

With the seasonal opening of pumpkin farms, you might end up with more pumpkins than you know what to do with. That’s where I come in.

The amount of pumpkins this time of year always amazes me. You head to the grocery store and can spot the giant cardboard box of pumpkins from across the parking lot. You head to the fall French Market and pumpkins reside alongside gourds and Indian corn. You visit a local fest, like the 69th Annual Fall Festival at the Children’s Farm in Palos Park this weekend, and the theme revolves around pumpkins. See where this is going? This season is all about the pumpkins! If you make the most of the fall season and experience all of the above activities, you might end up collecting double-digit pumpkins. Besides carving a scary or funny face in it more than a month from now, what are you supposed to do with all those pumpkins? Here are eight …

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New Fun Farm Wants to Harvest Good Times With Corn Maze, Pig Races

'We're hoping to create a new family tradition,' says general manager Clint Paraday.

A year ago, the cornfield north of Odyssey Fun World was just that, a cornfield. Over the past several months, however, the 110-acre space has been transformed. "It's been a hectic three months because none of us are farmers," said general manager Clint Paraday. He benefited, though, from the collective wisdom of 300 farmers when he attended a corn maze convention in North Carolina last year. "All their trade secrets were handed out out," he said. "These are guys who do this for a living when their harvest is in." READ: Fresh Seasonal Fruits and Vegetables in Late September and October During the convention, Paraday connected with a Utah-based maze design company that was able to incorporate the Odyssey logo and mascot into the maze (…

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Fresh from the French Market

Squash and Pumpkin Stew Recipes from Illinois Farm

Zeldenrust Farm Market has been at the Mokena French Market for five years now, providing market goers with fresh produce that does not contain retardants or herbicides.

Zeldenrust Farm Market has a rich family history and is now in its fourth generation of family farming. The farm began on Stony Island in the 1930s, where the vegetables were sold to South Water Market and Campbell's soups. The next generation took over in 1969, when the farm moved to 81 acres in Chicago Heights, where it remains today. The farm began offering their products at farmers markets in the early '80s, and they have been present at the Mokena French Market for five years. According to Zeldenrust Farm Market's website, the farm does not use any retardants or herbicides. Weeds are pulled out by hand, the old-fashioned way. Cady Walsch, one of the workers under the Zeldenrust canopy at the French Market, said French Market patrons …

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Prime Pastimes

Celebrate the Season at an Area Pumpkin Farm

Fun, festivity and fall weather are all excuses to buy a pumpkin from a local farm.

When it comes to flanking the steps of your front porch with pumpkins in order to fit in with your neighbor's extensive hodgepodge of fall décor, it's easy to throw a couple of pumpkins into a cart while you shop at your local grocery store. Why not take the easy route? Why not kill two or three or four birds with one stone? I'll tell you why not. When you purchase a generic pumpkin out of a generic cardboard box in front of a generic grocery store, you strip it of all sentimentality, festiveness and uniqueness. Next thing you know, you'll be eating grilled cheese for Thanksgiving and wrapping your holiday presents in old newspaper. But when you purchase a pumpkin from a local pumpkin farm, you enjoy a day outdoors in the combination of …

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