I recently spent a day in Malone, and I came across a real hidden gem. Just outside of Malone in North Bangor, my boyfriend and I stopped at Bonesteel's Gardening Center. I have to admit that at first glance it wasn't what I was expecting, but to my surprise it turned out to be really great. I bet this place is beautiful in the spring and summer when all the flowers are in bloom, so I am excited to go back next year. 

The outside was colorfully decorated with traditional pumpkins, white pumpkins, colored pumpkins, and mums. We walked inside to find more pumpkins, local produce, antiques, apple cider donuts, caramel apples, and popcorn! Why popcorn? Bonesteel's has a pumpkin patch, and on the weekends they do hayrides through the pumpkin patch where you can pick your own pumpkins. They offer you popcorn to accompany you on your ride, which I thought was really cute. There were lots of happy families coming in that day, grabbing popcorn, and heading out on their hayrides to pick pumpkins. They only do hayrides on the weekend though, as a head's up. 

After looking around inside, we walked outside and came across their "Pickers Village." We curiously walked into what seemed to be a mini antique village. There were several small buildings filled with antiques by category. One had all antique tools, antique gardening tools, etc. We found ourselves walking through each and every little cabin, picking through some really cool antiques. I didn't even know I liked antiques until seeing everything there that day. There was so much to explore, and we found so many things that we liked. I didn't end up leaving with any of it though, because I was there for other reasons. Reasons that I didn't even know apparently. 

After looking through Pickers Village, we came across the gardening center, which would normally have lots of flowers in the summer, but we happened to come across apple trees, which is something we've wanted to get for our house for some time. Long story short, we ended up buying two different apple trees. One honey crisp tree, and one macintosh. There were other types of trees too, including other varieties of apple trees, pear trees, and more. It was really interesting to see all the different options. I was excited to get home and plant my two trees. 

Around the corner was a cage with some chickens and a giant turkey. Kids were gathered around happily watching the chickens pluck at the corn cobs and listen to the turkey gobble away. This turkey was really large, with its leaves all fanned out, gobbling. It was actually really cool to hear, and the kids thought it was awesome. 

After Pickers Village, apple tree shopping, and stopping by the poultry cage, we headed back inside to pay for our trees. It took everything out of me not to buy all the apple cider donuts and caramel apples at the register. They looked amazing, but I didn't cave. We paid for our trees, and then I also bought seven pumpkins. They have big bins of pumpkins outside that were really cheap, so we bought a bunch for our house. A lot of them were perfect, and I had a really hard time picking which ones I wanted. There was a little boy having the same issue while I was picking mine out. He kept putting his back because he had found another perfect one that he wanted. 

All in all, I really enjoyed my time at Bonesteel's. I spent a lot more time there than I had anticipated, but it was well worth it, and I left with some good stuff. I highly recommend this in the fall if you have kids. It's a really unique experience in the Malone region. I definitely want to go back in the spring to get flowers. They also told me that they may be doing some wreath and kissing ball workshops this winter, which would be a really fun holiday activity. You can check all of it out on your next trip to the Malone region when you book a room. Don't forget to fill your belly before you go, and check out the other shopping options the region has to offer.