Fall in the Texas Hill Country

Fall is my absolute favorite season of the year. I adore the crispness in the air, the falling of the acorns, turning of the leaves, and the fact that everything is flavored with pumpkin. The place that I love visiting most during autumn is Marble Falls, a small town just thirty miles west of Austin in the Texas Hill Country.

Hay Field Marble Falls Texas

Longhorn in the Texas Hill Country

Once the sultry heat subsides, the rolling landscape of green cedar becomes brown and the deer come out. Waking up early at my family’s country house just north of Marble Falls is the best. Looking out the windows to see if the deer are grazing is the first thing I do each morning. Watching them from the front or back porch with a cup of coffee is the wonderful start to my day. I’ve seen as many as fifteen of them casually enjoying breakfast, that is until a potential threat is spotted, and they gracefully sprint over the barbed wire fence into the safety of the ranch bush.

Central Texas Pasture

Marble Falls Rail Road Tracks

Very close to the house is Sweet Berry Farm. In the spring and summers, the farm is bursting with strawberries. Folks from near and far come to pick their own right off the vine. But in the fall, the farm is overflowing with a vast variety of pumpkins and gourds. There’s a corn maze, hay rides, and other family-friendly activities.

Just this weekend on my way into town for coffee, I stopped at the farm before it was even open. The skies were grey and the earth was damp from night showers. I walked around the empty farm for about ten minutes and snapped these shots. Later that Saturday morning, the parking lot was filled with families out to pick their own pumpkins.

I quite liked having the place all to myself.

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21 Comments
  • @mrsoaroundworld
    September 30, 2013

    You guys ‘do’ fall so well. These photos look amazing. The pumpkins are out of this world!

    • Leah Walker
      September 30, 2013

      I haven’t really given much thought to the rest of the world and their celebration of fall. I figured everyone had some sort of harvest celebration.

  • the lazy travelers
    September 30, 2013

    DID YOU KNOW that france doesn’t really “DO” pumpkins? this is what i’m told. they only sell them at markets for cooking, so they’re these wimpy little things. i don’t even want to talk about it.

    thanks for your pictures, they’re at least filling some of the void. sigh.

    • Leah Walker
      September 30, 2013

      That is appalling. I suggest you pack up and move back to the United States this minute. If France didn’t have such great cheese, wine, and bread, I’d boycott the country this minute.

  • Pola (Jetting Around)
    September 30, 2013

    My first visit to a pumpkin patch was a few weeks after I moved to the US. I don’t do it every year, but your post makes me look forward to it this October. There’s just something fun and comforting about those places, especially on a sunny day. Lovely photos too, Leah!

    • Leah Walker
      September 30, 2013

      Thank you, Pola. Do they not have pumpkins in Poland or is it just not a big deal like it is here?

  • Karl
    September 30, 2013

    Some great photos Leah, shows fall and Halloween in a whole new colorful way. The radio flyer is just too classic!

    • Leah Walker
      October 2, 2013

      Thanks so much. I used to have one of those Radio Flyer wagons, so it brings back a lot of memories.

  • Nicole
    October 1, 2013

    I love your photos! They definitely represent Autumn. Very pretty. =)

    • Leah Walker
      October 2, 2013

      That’s very nice of you to say, Nicole. Thank you.

  • Hogga
    October 1, 2013

    love visiting pumpkin patches

    • Leah Walker
      October 2, 2013

      Would that have something to do with the spiked cider?

  • lola
    October 3, 2013

    the longhorn is my favorite!

    • Leah Walker
      October 4, 2013

      There were about 20 of them on the side of the road. They were beautiful.

  • Laura @Travelocafe
    October 11, 2013

    Love all your photos! Fall is always great with pumpkins around 🙂

    • Leah Walker
      October 18, 2013

      Thank you, Laura. Fall is my favorite season, so I absolutely agree with you about the pumpkins.

  • Jess
    October 15, 2013

    It’s so pretty! I’d never thought of Texas as having much of a Fall – I guess because the parts I visited when I lived in New Orleans were all along the Gulf Coast, and had the same lack of real seasonal change. I really missed seeing pumpkin fields.

    • Leah Walker
      October 18, 2013

      Thank you so much! Fall even comes along the gulf coast, it just happens around November. Haha!

  • Big Sky Ranch Texas
    January 12, 2014

    I love your awesome pictures! Thank you for sharing! If you are ever back in the Texas Hill Country then stop by Big Sky Ranch in Wimberley.. we still have some beautiful land for sale in the tx hill country.

    • Leah Walker
      January 17, 2014

      I’m just down the road in Marble Falls now. I’d love to revisit Wimberley. I’m sure it’s changed a lot since my last visit.

  • Stephen Jones - A Thousand Miles
    October 19, 2014

    I love the photos! I’d have to say that autumn is my favourite season, also! Living in Sydney, we also get hot and humid summers. Texas is, sadly, a state I have not really seen. The best I’ve done is simply drive through the top part, along the I-40. I love rural areas, but don’t often venture out there.

    As a side note, Australia doesn’t really do pumpkins, either. I love that about America – pumpkin pie, pumpkin soup!

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