Good news (and extra good news if you happen to have twins): In 2009, Disney theme parks in Florida and California will offer free admission on birthdays. Guests may register their birthdays, and those of their children, in advance, and proof of age is required to score the discount.

With fall stretching out before us, we’ve been thinking about the autumn leaves, hot apple cider and crisp nights ahead. From a one-family farmhouse in Wisconsin to a sprawling Tennessee estate known for combining sportsman activities and epicurean delights, here are five farms to visit this fall:

Little Sugar River Farm
The Farm
Located 30 miles south of Madison, this Wisconsin farmhouse home (pictured) for up to six adults at only $340/night is a steal for groups, but also a romantic little Midwestern hideout for couples seeking a slower pace. The owners will also cook meals in the home’s commercial kitchen using mostly organic farm produce and local products, or let guests wing it themselves with free reign over the garden and the hen house (just don’t tick off the rooster).
Farm Chores
Explore the farm’s 20 acres of pastures and fruit orchards. Pick flowers from the gardens. In winter, ice skate on the farm’s frozen pond or snowshoe across the beginnings of the property’s restored prairie land.
The Bunks
A stay here means you’ll have the run of the house. The master bedroom upstairs offers two-person soaking tub, 250-thread count linens, thick bathrobes and towels.
Get off the Farm
Less than a quarter mile from the property, the Sugar River Trail offers 23 miles of hiking and biking land – or in winter, cross-country skiing. When you’re done with the great outdoors, drive the 10 miles to the neighboring town of New Glarus and its Swiss village, complete its own brewery.

Leaping Lamb Farm
The Farm
An Oregon homestead since 1896, this family-run working farm offers a slice of the simple life with farms stays in a guest cabin suitable for families and small groups. D.I.Y. breakfasts consist of produce and eggs fresh from the farm.
Farm Chores
Sampling the homemade jams and cider the farm produces after the fall harvest. Year-round, pitch in by collecting eggs from the free range chickens or feeding the farm’s sheep.
The Bunks
One cabin offers two simple bedrooms outfitted with queen-sized beds, a covered outdoor deck, full kitchen and living room with futon couch.
Beyond the Barn
Take a drive through surrounding Alsea Valley to visit small wineries, alpaca farms and cheese producers.

Black Star Farms
The Farm
A stay in this northern Michigan farm’s eight-room inn puts you on 120 acres of land a stone’s throw from Grand Traverse Bay. Guests rave about the inn’s gourmet breakfast served each morning.
Farm Chores
Visit the property’s horse stables, the owners’ Leelanau Cheese Company creamery (known for its Raclette) and the Black Star Farms Winery (try the fruit brandies).
The Bunks
Rustic farmland abounds outside, but the guestrooms will make you forget all that. Dressed up in the kind of contemporary decor one might find in a big city boutique hotel, the rooms are wonderfully appointed with welcome touches like Aveda bath amenities and a complimentary bottle of the farm’s house red wine. Some have fireplaces and spa tubs.
Beyond the Barn
Tour the area’s many wineries (including Ciccone, owned by Madonna’s father) or explore the cute shops and laid-back restaurants in the nearby town of Sutton’s Bay.

Blackberry Farm
The Farm
In the foothills of the Smoky Mountains, this 4,200-acre estate is a farm adept at pleasing even the pickiest gourmands and city slickers. Artisanal foods produced onsite range from jams to cheese to chocolate. Other reasons to go include the Farmhouse Spa, fly fishing and Camp Blackberry for kids.
Farm Chores
While the kids are learning how to dye wool or make apple cider, the adults in your group can indulge in cooking classes, horseback riding and sporting clays.
The Bunks
The 59 guestrooms here come in many shapes and sizes. Rooms, suites, cottages and house all impress with their Georgian antiques, and all room rates include three meals a day.
Beyond the Barn
With its mountainous location, the sky’s really the limit here when it comes to outdoor activity. The farm will arrange overnight camping trips for guests, as well as cycling, fly fishing, canoeing and golf excursions.

Smithfield Farm Bed & Breakfast
The Farm
Head to the Blue Ridge Mountain foothills to find this 200-year-old gem, located about an hour’s drive west from Washington, DC.
Farm Chores
Meet the animals at Smith Meadows farm, a working farm that produces grass-fed meats and eggs and shares the property with the bed and breakfast. Pick apples in the orchard or stroll along the 350-acre property’s quiet country roads.
The Bunks
Four guestrooms and a private cottage make up the accommodations, which include gas log fireplaces and antique furnishings – some offer whirlpool tubs, canopy beds and private entrances.
Beyond the Barn
Explore Crystal Caverns in nearby Strasburg or brush up on your history with a visit to area Civil War battlefields like Antietam, Cedar Creek or Harpers Ferry.

Every once in a while, I run across someone obsessed with Jelly Belly jelly beans, that special kind of person with staunch opinions on the merits of the highly controversial popcorn flavor, someone who can discern a blueberry bean from the strikingly similarly-hued plum bean in a moment’s notice, someone who refers to their assortment of beans as a “collection.”

This post goes out to anyone for whom the above rings true. In addition to its first-come, first-served free walking tours that have long been popular among visitors to Northern California, Jelly Belly is now offering a VIP bean immersion experience called the Jelly Belly University Tour, which treats groups of six or fewer bean-curious visitors to a private tour of the working Fairfield, CA factory and elucidates such mysteries as why it can take up to 21 days to make a single bean. And of course, tour participants will be able to taste beans fresh off the production line. At the end of the one-hour jaunt through the factory, t-shirts heralding participants’ new Degree in Beanology are awarded. The $47 tours are available on weekdays only and to ages six and up.

Kinda of brings a whole new meaning to the phrase, bean there, done that…

On June 21, I would have told you that Kid Rock was a total loser fool with a gross peach fuzz ’stache and no obvious redeeming qualities. One day later, I would have to sheepishly, publicly admit a deep-seated respect for Kid. And to what can I attribute this sudden about-face? There is but one reason, and one reason only: my first game of Whirlyball.

Because, after discovering this gem of an activity with the capacity to entertain everyone from wholesome church-going families to drunken frat boys, how could I possibly say or think anything bad about a person who allegedly installs a $1.2 million, state-of-the-art Whirlyball facility in his home? I just can’t.

For those who don’t know, Whirlyball is a curious hybrid five-on-five sport involving electric bumper car “whirlybugs” that their occupants operate via hand cranks while trying to simultaneously hurl balls into overhead backboards using plastic scoops that resemble Lacrosse sticks made for toddlers. It is also my new favorite sport, one I would gladly play at every birthday possible, if it weren’t for the sad fact that one can really only play Whirlyball in a handful of U.S. locations.

I played Whirlyball in Chicago, but you can also find it in Atlanta, Ann Arbor, Seattle, Cleveland and South Windsor, CT.