Butler’s Orchard in Germantown is welcoming the community for another fall season.
The pumpkin patch opens Saturday. Apple-picking is Friday, Saturday and Sunday throughout October.
“We’ve got our fall festival running all the way through October, and you can come out and really enjoy the corn maze, the slides, the animals and really see what agrotourism is all about here at Butler’s Orchard,” said Tyler Butler, third-generation farmer and general manager of Butler’s Orchard.
In a metro-area county with more than one million people, Butler said part of his job is not only to ensure customers have a great experience, but to educate them about food and farming.
“We are such an elaborate farm, diverse farm, and the produce margins are difficult and tough. And that’s why agrotourism is great, it gets customers to the farm for festivals and other events that we have,” he said.
He spoke in regard to the Maryland Farm Bureau — “they are able to support us and help us especially in legislation, in Annapolis, getting things passed through that really help our farmers.”
Especially after COVID-19, Butler said, “we realized how important our local food system is.”
He welcomed the community to the farm to pick apples, raspberries and pumpkins, have fun with the animals and other activities — “I think that’s what’s really exciting about coming to the farm in the fall season.”
