The Pumpkin Patch
It's that time of year again. The leaves on the trees are changing colors and starting to fall off, the weather is changing from warm and sunny to cool and windy, and fall colors are beginning to pop up all over (at least in my neck of the woods).
The month of October is one of my favorite months of the year; something about it gets me in the mood for warm blankets, hot cocoa, and pumpkins. Yes, I said pumpkins. With their many shapes, sizes, and beautiful orange colors, seeing them truly brings me back to my youth when Halloween was the best night of the year for a child.
Before the magical night would happen though, I needed to visit a place were the fall colors were alive and well: the pumpkin patch. The pumpkin patch, to me, was a place I waited to visit all year long. I would get anxious as my dad and I approached the patch, already talking non-stop about finding the perfect pumpkin. The perfect pumpkin was one that sat evenly on its bottom, had no real visible bumps or scratches, and most importantly had a nice smooth side that would be excellent for carving.
Pumpkin patches are much different nowadays than they were when I was younger. When I was little, a patch was on a portion of a farm with some hay spread around so people could walk on it without getting themselves too muddy, with rows and rows of pumpkins from which to choose. Some patches had mini pumpkins or gourds, or other vegetables for sale as well, but that was about it. When my husband and I visit now, we still travel to a farm, we still see rows and rows of pumpkins, but now we see corn mazes, tractor and hay rides, and the farm workers bring out animals for children to see and learn about, and the patch we go to even has a haunted house set up in an old barn.
My husband now knows that when I go to the pumpkin patch, I am there for a while. I love to soak in the entire experience. We've been known to bring a bag lunch as well, so we can sit at the tables the patch has (weather permitting) and watch the wonder in the little children's eyes as they are picking pumpkins, playing, and begging their parents to go on a hay ride together. After looking around at the different animals out for display we get a wagon and carefully pick out our pumpkins. Once we have paid for them and placed them in the truck, we head home on the dirt path.
It's become a tradition in my family to take the annual trip to the pumpkin patch and though it has not always been the same patch every year, the feeling of fall is magically in every patch, big or small. I encourage everyone to capture that feeling and visit their local pumpkin patch this year.