Pumpkin Patch 2014

We seem to be building more and more family traditions every year, and I love it! It’s something I just realized we were doing in a time when I was thinking we didn’t have any traditions! We find something we love doing and do it again the next year, however it seems that the majority of our traditions happen in Autumn. I’m excited to see what traditions we’ll come up with in the years to come and through the other seasons, but for now I wanted to share a bit about our annual Pumpkin Patch visit!

This is my favorite pumpkin patch. I don’t even know if it has a name, it’s just this wonderful woman who was allowed to plant pumpkins in a small section of a farmers corn field. Then she starts selling them mid-September until they are gone. Over the years the place has become popular and they sell out fast! So we have to get in gear and pick out our pumpkins early in the season!

The variety is amazing! There are tons of traditional orange pumpkins of many sizes, decorative gourds, pie pumpkins and heirloom varieties.

Just like when we go to the apple orchards to pick our own apples, we like to go out and pick our own pumpkins at the pumpkin patch.

Our first find was a great big white pumpkin we located at the patch crossroads. It was so big the girls wanted a picture of it.

We decided to hold off on this one and left it for the next family to pick up if they wanted it. There was an entire field of pumpkins and we wanted to see what we could find!

Charlie first found a vine that had some itty, bitty, still green and growing pumpkins.

Lena found some squash flowers.  I’ve never eaten squash flowers, have you? I’m wondering what they taste like?  We might have to pick some up sometime. I’d love it if you have any tips on this to share them in the comments.

I found a beautiful orange carver just sitting in the field. It looked abandoned, but was in good shape. I’m wondering if the original owners of it decided against it since the stem was missing.

Finally the girls found their own first must haves. They found the miniature squash/pumpkin portion of the patch. What I love about these little buggers is they are cute, decorative and the gal who runs the patch doesn’t charge! FREE and cute. I like those numbers.

Then for fun, I grabbed a shot of the girls exploring the pumpkin patch.

In the picture up there, you can see a woman in black doing her own pumpkin search. That’s where we were headed. The big pumpkins were over there.

When all was said and done, this is what we ended up with in our wheelbarrow. The wheelbarrow and the clippers were all provided by the patch, although I think next year I’ll see about bringing our own clippers and maybe a pair of gloves or two.  I forgot how prickly those pumpkin stems can be.

We took our pumpkin haul back to the main area to pay, and wow did it give me a great bicep workout! Two days later and I’m still feeling it in my arms.  I’ll have more to say on this during my next Two month wellness challenge update because it gave me some great insight into my own exercise routines.

I paid just $15 for all that, and this picture doesn’t do the pumpkin size justice. That tall one is at least 18 inches tall…maybe more! These size pumpkins go for about $10 or more in the stores regularly, so this was an awesome deal.

After I paid and loaded the pumpkins I ran around to take some pictures of the yard where there are already picked pumpkins and some other related items. The girls played on the swing set and made some new friends.

Here is some beautiful calico, decorative corn.

I also grabbed a shot of the old shed. There used to be pumpkins in there for sale, but I think now they just use it for pumpkin patch storage.

Never underestimate the power of using corn stalks in harvest decoration. I think it’s absolutely beautiful, though I have yet to buy some and decorate with it. We’ll see what happens in the years to come.

We had a great time at the pumpkin patch the other day. I can’t wait to decorate, paint or carve what we picked up!

What are your harvest season traditions? Tell me in the comments.