Pumpkins

We went to our favorite pumpkin patch on Sauvie Island this Saturday. It's called "THE Pumpkin Patch". They were very clever with the name! Anyway, every year we go, we look for the largest possible pumpkins. Why? Because anything over 20 pounds costs the same....so we're always after more "bang" for our buck. This patch is always good for large pumpkins. One year, we brought home a 68 pounder.

The nice thing about heading out on the last Saturday of September is the jump on the crowd. There were no lines and very few people at the farm or out in the patch. It's as though most people don't think about this sort of thing until October actually rolls around. We had most of the hay ride to ourselves on our way out to the pumpkin field.

I don't know how much fun the kids have at the pumpkin patch.... They usually end up with the boring job of babysitting our precious pumpkins. Here's Julia taking her turn guarding the pumpkins we were considering.

Jourdan took over the pumpkin sitting job for a while after Julia had a turn. She and her dad wandered off in to the very back regions of the field.

Jourdan and I got a phone call from the back of the field about 5 minutes later. Jonathan was telling me I needed to come over and see the pumpkin he found (I am the final decider on which ones are allowed to come home with us). I told him that it had better be a good one, because he was SO far away, and that I didn't want to walk all the way over there to see another run-of-the-mill pumpkin. He said, "No, you have to see this one - I've found the GREAT PUMPKIN!" At that point, I could see Julia flailing her arms in the air and hopping up and down. So, I decided that it might be worth my while to hike through all the vines, ruts, and weeds to check out the new find. He was right, it was HUGE. It was a very long trek for him to carry that massive thing back to the hay ride.

My favorite thing about THIS year's trip to the pumpkin patch.....

Jourdan is finally able to carry the pumpkins back to the tractor (he's now taller than me, and just about as strong). Usually, Jonathan and I do all the carrying and end up making more than one trip to bring them from the back of the field to the hay ride pick-up area. Jourdan and I carried the others back. At any rate, this year we chose to bring home 3, instead of our typical 2 pumpkins. The kids are posing with them while we wait for our "ride".

When we got back to the hay ride, several kids asked, "Is that YOUR pumpkin....it's HUGE!" I think they were wanting to take it home for themselves. The Great Pumpkin weighed it at nearly 62 pounds and was the record-breaker for the day (according to the employee).

We stopped at the patch next door and bought a large white pumpkin to add to our collection. I haven't decided which one I like most, the huge one, the really curvy one, or the short round one (I guess that explains why they ALL came home with us).