It’s time to visit Hillside Orchard Farm and Country Store! I absolutely love places like this and so does my family. There’s plenty of outside activities and places you can duck inside for some A/C when the sun gets to be too much.

Hillside Orchard Farm and Country Store is a working farm that is located in the beautiful North Georgia mountains. The farm was built around an old barn which dates back to the 1950’s. In the 1980’s the farm was brought back to a working farm and vegetables were planted to be used in products that are manufactured at their processing plant. In the 1990’s a country store was opened at the farm to sell the products they manufacture.  Jams, Jellies, Butters, Pickles, Relish, Sauces, Syrups, Ciders, Fruit Breads and Fritters. Sounds delicious am I right? There’s nothing like buying food items AT the actual place you’ve visited. You feel so connected! They do have a place for souvenirs and gifts. You can even choose what products go into a gift basket!

There’s plenty to do here at Hillside Orchard for the whole family. We stopped by the gem mine and panned for gems. It’s such a rush when you discover a shiny object in your pan! There’s also a barnyard for you to feed the farm animals (chickens, turkeys, donkeys Jack and Jenny, pigs, rabbits, and the cows Daisy, Ms Walker and Lady). The barn also has a vending machine so you feed the animals the proper food, and not part of your PB&J.

As always we brought our own lunch (it saves a lot of money this way!) and luckily Hillside has some beautiful Walking Trails and some picnic tables for us to use. Along the trails are corn, blackberries, and a trout stream. We got our “sweets” from the country store, and let me tell you… try the peach ice cream! The peach ice cream is a soft serve with peaches added for the best flavor ever!

After we ate we went to another small gift shop near the country store, and there they have a Sorghum Pan. What’s Sorghum you ask? I had to ask. Sorghum is a type of corn. Its grain can be made into flour or syrup, and here at Hillside Orchard they make syrup out of it! Some other places to visit on the farm is the Moonshine Still (it’s been disabled), Blacksmith Show, Burr Mill (grinds corn), Apples Grader. See what I mean that there’s plenty to do here? Don’t expect to come here for a few minutes to visit the store. Explore!

We went during Spring but during the Fall – Hillside Orchard really starts bustling with activities. Much like the Honey House they have on the premises (tours can be arranged)! They have Hay Rides, a Corn Maze (it turns haunted around Halloween!), their Fall Farm Days in the beginning of October, and they grow pumpkins and apples to sell in their country store. Sad to miss it on this round, but we’ll come back for that! We’ll also have to come back for their U-pick farm of strawberries and blackberries!

They do have a music stage for their yearly festivals which are held the third Sat in May (May 15, 2010) and the 2nd and 3rd Saturday in October they have Blue Grass and Gospel Music.

There’s one more thing, which I think is the absolute coolest. They have an Ethonol Facility! Appointments should be made to tour the facility. They use the by products of the processing plant (fruit left from making other products) to make the ethonol. The ethonol will be used to run their equipment and boilers. How self-sustaining is that?

All in all… if you plan on visiting the North Georgia mountains, make it a BIG point on your traveling schedule to stop by Hillside Orchard Farm and Country Store. Even if it’s to visit the country store., you’ll be doing yourself a big favor!