Start your day with the most important meal of the day—brunch and bottomless mimosas—Sundays 10am-2pm. No matter what you order, rest assured that as much of your meal as it can, includes homegrown produce and fresh, local ingredients.

Knowing that we had a full day of activities and snacks (meat and cheese at Schadé Vineyard and Winery and pizza at Good Roots Farm and Garden) in front of us, we ate a light lunch.

Jason’s steakhouse salad was bursting with flavor and texture from the fresh lettuce, crunchy vegetables and onion tanglers, plus it was plenty meaty with bacon and grilled steak. Craft is known for its steaks, burgers and pasta, and for adding limited-time seasonal feature menu items so I ordered from that. Nothing could have made the chicken Caesar sandwich more delicious—the chicken was perfectly battered and crispy on the outside with tender and juicy white meat inside. A perfectly toasted yet slightly chewy bread finished it off.

Although Craft is a fine dining, cloth napkin restaurant, the atmosphere is casual so no need for fancy clothes so early in the morning.

Brandi, one of Craft’s owners, makes some of the best homemade cheesecakes around. The locals love it so much that on National Cheesecake Day 2023, they sold 395 pieces! No matter which flavor you choose, you’ll be glad you left room for it.

If you visited Sanderson Gardens when you were a kid, chances are that Jan Sanderson was buzzing around the place back then. Now, 47 years later, he’s still the farmer behind all these gardens. If you see him while you’re out picking, he’ll encourage you to eat as many as you want while you’re at it.

For today, you might only want to pick a pound or two to enjoy with your wine at Schadé Vineyard and Winery and your pizza night at Good Roots. Bring a box, basket or container. Your hands will get sticky so bring hand wipes or gloves.

Weigh your berries on the scale up in the front yard. Pay with cash. Leave the money in the ammo box.

Pick your own asparagus, rhubarb and strawberries in the spring and early summer. Later in the summer, come back and pick raspberries. When the pumpkins and gourds are ready, the patch is perfect for kids and fall photos. Follow the signs in the yard to the U-pick that’s in season.

This was our first trip to Schadé Vineyard and Winery and definitely not our last. We had such a great time and even brought home six bottles of wine.

The winery has a long history with Jan Sanderson from Sanderson Gardens and that’s where some of the fruit for their wines comes from.

Ask the bartender about the wine that some people claim to smell like a barn, yet others smell more of a perfume scent.

What really made this a great experience was Jason and I did the wine tasting. Sage, the bartender, gave us a paper that listed the wines with a description of their flavor profiles. We each chose the five wines that we wanted to try. My top two favorites were chokecherry and Oakwood Red, which is the original wine Jim and Nancy Schade made when they founded the vineyard in 2000. The light fixtures above the bar are the actual glass jugs they used for Oakwood Red back then.

Although Jim has handed the reins to another owner, he still helps out and we got to see him the day we were there. We also enjoyed hanging out with Freddy the winery dog, and eating smoked white cheddar cheese from Dimock Dairy and meat from Platte Locker (both are South Dakota companies).

Schadé Vineyard and Winery is closed Monday and Tuesday. The event space out here is incredible if you need a space to hold a small or large wedding or party.

Pizza farms have gained popularity over the last few years and the Brookings community is lucky to have Good Roots Farm and Garden just a few minutes north of town. Owners Bill and Julie Ross have grown the 40-acre farm passed down from her family into an earth-friendly community gathering space.

Good Roots is host to Sunday-only wood-fired pizza nights at 4:30-7:30 PM, starting early June through mid-October. They grow many of the organic ingredients in their gardens and orchards right on the farm.

Tip: You need to plan ahead for the best experience. Place your pizza order online as soon as the order form opens, which is Tuesday afternoon prior to your Sunday visit. Sometimes they can accommodate walk-up sales, but they usually sell out online, so you need to order ahead. https://goodrootsfarm.square.site

We ordered pepperoni pizza and dessert pizza which this week was rhubarb and aronia berry, both grown on the farm. It’s so good! The pizza menu changes every two weeks and typically includes unique flavor combinations to try.

There’s beer, wine, water, and signature lemonades, like the tart lemonade with aronia berry juice we drank, for sale in the bar located in the nearly 100-year-old restored barn. You are welcome to bring your own water.

Pizza is served in a box so bring with you: chairs or a blanket to sit on in the grass, plates, napkins, your fruit from Sanderson Gardens, sunglasses, water, bug spray, hand wipes (there are public restrooms). We packed all our stuff in our utility wagon and wheeled it right to the yard. Wear shoes that are good for walking on uneven grass and gravel.

It rained off and on the night that we were here, but it didn’t stop Good Roots from making hot and rustic pizza in the two wood-fired ovens. Everyone just grabbed their stuff, including the live music, and moved into the nice barn, which is where the bar is anyway.

The farm has lots of open space for kids to run, play and explore, plus there’s an area with yard games. Be sure to visit the goats, Double and Trouble, because they enjoy selfies with their visitors. It’s a glorious evening to enjoy nature.

The week after we were here, they opened a cute little farm store near the barn so that’s something to check out as well. Ask Bill and Julie about hosting private events and pizza nights or their nature-based experiences such as hayrides, nature hikes, animal and garden activities and arts and crafts. There is always something going on at the farm.