Fog Willow Farms

This place is fun for a field trip. The staff is kind, knowledgable, and plenty of experiencing large groups of kids. The animals were interesting, we learned about hay bailing, and the kids had fun.

Came here Saturday morning with my 3 nieces. While driving there it started to pour cats and dogs. I didn’t know whether to turn back or keep going. My oldest wanted to keep going and said that they like rain and don’t mind being wet. HA! I kept driving .then all a sudden rain just stopped. I think someone really wanted us to visit Fog Willow that day. Place is like 15 min drive from Elk Grove, but for me coming from the North. It was like a 45min drive. There was plenty of parking there. $ 4 admission fee for everyone 4 or older. Glad my youngest which is 4 passed for a 3 year old. shhhh… This is the cleanest pumpkin patch ive been to. It was huge. They had a pond, farm animals, mining area, hay pyramid, food stands, pumpkins, Pony rides, playground, and hay rides. They also got a huge picnic area where you can have a bday party or just bring food to feast. The girls enjoyed it, but complained that there was no corn maze.

This is an AMAZING place! It’s so well maintained, the animals are all healthy, staff are friendly & the children can enjoy fresh snacks & food as well! You can play on the hay pyramids, pony rides, pick out amazing pumpkins & even learn about geodes! The Big Dig is so much fun too! This is a must visit pumpkin farm with SO much entertainment & beauty! Thank you Fog Willow for being such a wonderful, family friendly environment!!!

Went to this ‘farm’ this morning with my family. First time there, had high expectations. It was only kinda annoying that we couldn’t get near or participate in any of the attractions (which I paid for with my admission fee) because of school field trips. It would have been nice to have been told that we would be continuously asked to move away from things so the next group of kids could get through before they took our money. We were trying to make the best of it, kept nicely explaining to the toddler why he couldn’t do the hay ride, but then we saw the animals in cages. The chickens were drumstick high in their own feces and their water was filthy, as was how the rest of the animals were housed. The worst though was a sad ewe caged up on the side of the chickens — completely in the dark, filthy, and obviously sick. So sad. Owning animals is a privilege, not a right. And if you’re making money off them, at least keep them clean, healthy and happy!
After seeing state of the animals, we quickly put down our pumpkins and asked for a refund. They nicely provided a full refund and even tickets to come back for free another day, but no thank you!

Today was my family’s first visit to this farm, but we will not be going back even if offered free admission. The first thing that struck me was that everything looks very badly taken care of, if it’s taken care of at all. the buildings and structures don’t look safe, the grounds and buildings are dirty and unkempt, and the whole place is in a general state of disrepair. Couple this with the fact that they sell food to people out of unsafe environments like this and I can’t think of a whole lot of ways that couldn’t go wrong.
The next thing we noticed was that the people who own the place were shipping in pumpkins from the same distributors as the stores and then up charging like crazy. The pumpkins they charge $ 12 for can be gotten at the local supermarket for $ 4; why should anyone pay admission and subject my children to an unsafe environment to be charged that much for a pumpkin worth a third that price? I could see if they were growing the pumpkins themselves how that could be a fair price, a lot of work goes into farming but so much in having pumpkins delivered to you.
After passing by the pumpkins and the food options of the pumpkin patch we went to the area where they keep the animals. All of them, without fail, were kept in tiny areas not suited for animals their size and there were always more than one in the small area, save for one calf which was in a tiny enclosure by itself. Looking into the animals areas I could not locate adequate food or water for them on a day where the temperature was in the high 80’s and more than a few of the animals seemed to be sickly and in distress. The only remotely satisfying part of the entire experience was the hay ride, which would have been much more satisfying had we not gone around the animals cages and had to see them suffering once again. I’m very glad that my children don’t understand the kind of distress and pain we saw at this place and I can only hope it will be a happy memory for them.
The whole experience with the animals was depressing. I hope the owners make some large changes soon this could be a wonderful place to bring a family or school children, but in its current state I wouldn’t suggest visiting this business to anyone.

Great young family place. Lots of animals to see and pet. Climbing hay stacks, swings, hay ride, picnic areas. Lots of shade! Delicious treats too!

So we drove the 30+ min to get there 10÷12÷15. They have at least 2 car parking lots and 1 school bus parking lots. We tried to get a group of homeschoolers together for a tour but we could not muster the 20 minim necessary. No tour. We had to pay $ 4 each to basically do nothing. Sure my kids ran on the haystack. Yup they played in the playground which was heavily under construction. We couldn’t yet go on the hayride (it opened to regular customers at 12) which cost extra. We walked over to the petting zoo area. They have big signs everywhere to not put your fingers into the cages as your fingers resemble carrots and you didn’t want to get bitten. Since we were not a part of a group we felt like red headed step children. We went from established group to group in Fog Willows petting zoo & my kids wanted so badly to see the stations and do the activities at each station (ie making a mini hay bale) but each station leader didn’t have the time of day for us and as soon as a group left they immed closed their station. We watched as the gal led the sheep away! Hey! Wait! Sorry. Hmmm!
So I didn’t see evidence of any actual growing pumpkins there, only ones that had been picked previously (unknown for how long) and were sized and grouped for selection. They had the biggest over by the big haystack and the vast majority of smaller ones over by the final school staging areas. Also I didn’t see any flushing toilets, only port-​o-​potties. Ew. No hand washing stations or hand sanitizer stands where the animal or petting zoo was. We live in Carmichael and we were hoping to make the change from Bishops Pumpkin Farm to this one, but this one just doesn’t compare. Luckily we still have enough time before halloween to hit the pumpkin patch. We are going to make the drive out to Bishops in Wheatland. I feel like I wasted $ 16 bucks today.

I LOVE this place! I have lived in Elk Grove almost my entire life and never knew about this place until I had kids. This is our third year here and every year it gets better. This year we tried the «Big Dig» and my son and oldest daughter sluiced out bags of dirt with arrowheads and «gems.» Easily their favorite part of the day. There are also pony rides, petting zoo, hay tower to climb on, plus the Sugar Shack. A must every October!
Oh, and the Little Pickers Club is such a great deal! We never have to pay for entry and our kids get a free pumpkin each every year!

One of the best pumpkin farms in the region, and we’ve been to a lot of pumpkin farms. There’s lots of really fun activities for kids including haystack climbing, petting zoo, pony ride, hayrides, etc. We had our daughter’s 4^th birthday there a few years ago and not only was it reasonably priced, but it came with a Lil Pickers membership. Every year, they open the farm up to members on the last Saturday evening in September. Our family of four got in for free, we got to take two pumpkins home for free, pony rides are half price and then show a movie and serve popcorn and candy. I always end up getting the best pictures here, too. Plus, the kids always have a blast. Seriously, I can’t say enough good things about Fog Willow. We look forward to going every year.

We go here every year. Kids have so much fun. Lots to do and see. Great place for pics too.

My family has been to this educational farm on several occasions and everyone has a great time. The owners and staff do a great job of balancing hard work with fun and education. I have gone for field trips and hosted birthday parties over the years at Fog Willow and Joe and Stacey Cates are exceptional and always make sure everyone has a great time. We will be back soon and are getting excited for the pumpkins and hay rides. Thank you Joe and Stacey for teaching these kids the ways of the farm.

We have visited this farm on our own, decided not to return, only to visit again because of functions through my child’s school. I have decided, after today’s visit, regardless of the reason, we are never going back, even if it means our daughter will have to be absent from school. Today marked our fourth visit to this cesspool.
I do not doubt the people who own the farm are hardworking. I do not doubt that they mean well. You know what they say about the road to Hell being paved with good intentions.
On this farm, I have witnessed things that simply shouldn’t be. During last year’s school field trip, a ewe was chained to a stand so children could brush her. She was very obviously distressed by the activity, it was about 90 degrees and she had no water, and instead of giving her a break, she was forced to endure many hours of hyper, boisterous kids touching and brushing her. There must have been over 700 kids visiting the farm that day. I wasn’t the only parent who felt the ewe should have been allowed to return to her barn rather than stand there and be stressed out.
No one monitors the kids in the petting zoo. Parents very clearly cannot be trusted to ensure children treat animals with respect, so the farm hands should be there to help make sure the Pygmy goats, pigs, etc., are treated well when people are in the pens with the animals. I saw children kick a pot bellied pig because they thought it was dead and wanted to double check. It was enjoying a bit of sun, and couldn’t even do that in peace. I guess the fact that it was breathing, its tail was twitching, and its nose was moving wasn’t enough to clue them in.
Today, the hen house desperately needed cleaning. I could smell the ammonia from 15 – 20 feet away. There was bird crap all over everything. I know how nasty birds can be, and I know how busy farmers are, but when visitors are expected, clean the damn chicken coop. There should have been no reason at all for such a strong ammonia stench in the coop. Poor, neglected chickens.
Also, in a metal tub that was about two feet in diameter, and about a foot deep, the water level was down about three inches. Not a huge deal, really, there was plenty of water in the tub. However, the water was FILTHY! It was black/​grey, and clearly had not been checked in days given the level of the water in the tub. The kids said, «Ew! Chickens are gross, see, they like dirty water!» I said they did not like it, they were just drinking it because it was all they had.
A baby goat was stuck in a 2.5×2.5 cage in the sun so kids could look at it. The goat was lifted out of the cage so the kids could touch it, and the out back. More dirty water, and no escape from the sun. It was 86 degrees today.
A baby duck and baby chicken were stuffed in a shoebox today, no water, so kids could pet them. On a farm, the best they can do is a shoebox with no water? The box was placed under the goat’s cage between groups of kids.
One of the farm hands was asking the kids what the ‘jobs’ of farm animals might be. Honestly, the brainwashing about meat, and the lack of respect was revolting.
«What is the job of a chicken? What do chickens give us? Egg, right? What else? They give us chicken, right. What else? Feathers? Feathers for our clothes?»
«What is the job of a cow? To give milk and ice cream, right. And what else? Leather? Right? And what else?»
«What is the job of a pig? How many of you like bacon?»
By this time I had to shut her down. These animals do not willingly GIVE us any of these things, and it is not their JOB to provide it. What these animals have, and what humans use, is forcibly TAKEN from them with horrifying and inhumane means! And the way she was wording it all, there was no consideration for the animals. No respect. I don’t care what a person chooses to eat, but don’t brainwash children to think it is the JOB of an animal to die for us, as if it has no other purpose on earth!
Ugh. I absolutely hate Fog Willow, and will never go there again for any reason.

=): Lots of parking. Enough things for kids under 6 years. different animals that small kids would still find fascinating: Rabbits, adorable goats, horses. a llama? I think. There was a giant haystack castle to climb. And a short hayride. Many pumpkins to choose from.
=/​: snacks and treats seemed over priced. Workers were lack luster.
=(: They don’t seem to treat their animals very well. Cages are dirty and filled with poop. And there’s no one supervising as the children are feeding the goats. Anyone is welcome to open up the cages. I was tempted to take out the poor rabbits when I saw the sorry state of their cages.

I have been here twice for my daughters kinder field trips. The staff is very nice here. The kids always have a bunch of fun. Only downside is their parking lot as there is only a single lane road, so you are fighting to get in and out.

Had a great time here with the family! Loved the hay ride, seeing the animals & petting the goats, pony rides, climbing the hay stacks & the playground too so much to do! They seemed to only have perfect pumpkins & the treats in the snack bar fed our fall cravings! We will be back!

What a great place to bring the kids and for a great family outing. They had lots of things for the kids to do.

I’m kinda sad this was our first time as a family here– only because I’m not sure how much longer we will be living in the area. I’ve heard about this place for years. They have a super cool deal for kids, this really neat membership that includes a t shirt, family four pack (every year) to the patch, a 10−15lb pumpkin each year, and an invite to a special membership event for the family. Only 35 bucks, and it’s good until the kid is 13! Rad deal, if you ask me.
The place is a LOT bigger than I had imagined– so yea, there are crowds, but it didn’t feel like it, even when we went on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. There were three kinds of free rides; a tractor pull, hay ride, and barrel train –with very short wait time. I climbed some stacks (ok towers) of hay with the kids, pet a cow, (washed my hands) and picked up a huge bag of fresh kettle corn (5 bucks)
Parking is free, there’s a shaded play ground, a load of gorgeous pumpkins (makes a cool background for all your fall photos!) lots of animals too! The goats are actually pretty friendly– so are the pigs– there’s one that totally loves behind the ear/​leg scratches and will roll over on her side/​belly for you;) I could spend hours with the animals, and the kids loved it.
It’s way out in Wilton, but worth the drive. Fog Willow was much cooler than I expected! Bring a lunch, there are plenty of shady tables, or buy something from one of their lunch shacks. Bonus? They even provide wagons so you don’t have to worry about hauling your 40lbs of pumpkin around. Also, the prices are pretty decent, considering all you can do at the property for a small amount of cash. Quit your sniffling over a 10 $ 15lb pumpkin and have some fun instead;)

As a former employee of Fog Willow I think it’s fair for me to report my view of Fog Willow from that perspective. All the positive reviews on here highlight the fun of the farm, so I’ll focus on some behind-​the-​scenes highlights.
Farmer Joe and his wife are good, hard working people. They haven’t raised their prices in a number of years (I think it’s something like seven years) because they 1) want as many people as possible to be able to enjoy their farm despite this down economy and 2) truly enjoy what they do. They’re not rolling in profit, as some of the reviews might suggest, and they don’t «overprice» anything. They give it to you at very little more than what they purchased it for.
I’ve also seen a few reviews on here about the way they treat animals and I want to point out that those were posted a while ago and Farmer Joe has gone to great lengths to improve the quality of care for the animals. His children also oftentimes claim the various animals as pets and therefore care for their overall quality of life to a great extent. All employees were/​are instructed on proper animal care and are expected to ensure proper treatment and care of animals.
Finally I will say that Joe works his butt off to provide a première staff. Additionally, he hires lots of younger people who have never had a job before and gives them valuable work experience. I spent four seasons at the farm (two spring, two fall) and learned a lot about how to be a good employee, how to work with children, and how to provide great customer service. I’m now on year away from being a teacher and that’s been inspired by my experience here.
Overall, if you want to support a great small business, a wonderful family, a hardworking man, and a slough of people who would otherwise leave high school with probably no work experience, AND have an AWESOME time doing it then you should head to this place. I’ll be there every season until I’m old and gray because this place is just an all around wonderful environment.

My son and I loved Fog Willow! Our favorite was being able to talk into the baby goat pen and feed/​pet the animals. Staff is also amazing with children. The pumpkins however, were already harvested and I was hoping to get the full experience of picking one from the farm.
Overall, place is great and we will be returning :)

My husband and I took our 10 month old son here and he had great time picking pumpkins and looking at all the animals.
The thing that was not so great about this place is that it can get pricey since you have to pay admission in addition to buying pumpkins and snacks (caramel apples, fudge, candy, etc). I’d say pumpkin prices are comparable to other pumpkin patches.
Since this is one of the more popular places, it can get pretty busy, which means there are kids running around without parental supervision. So keep an eye out if you have little ones cause the bigger kids will run them over.
There were also no bunnies in the bunny farm. Don’t know if its like that all the time or just the day we went.
If you don’t like porta-​potties, you should go to the bathroom before you get there.
The only thing that was super disappointing about this place were the caramel apples. We bought caramel apples to take home for later. When we were ready to eat them at home we learned that the person that bagged them had wrapped them in paper which took most of the caramel off. And then it looks like they put cupcake liners on the bottom of the apples which pulled off the rest of what little caramel we had left on the apple. If I wanted a plain apple, I would have just gone to the grocery store and got a whole bag of apples for the price we paid for two caramel apples. Seriously, fog willow, invest in some wax paper. It’s not that hard.
Overall, we had a good time. Just fix the caramel apple problem.