Harvest Time

Don't let the title deceive you.  We aren't actually harvesting anything here at the Cavalleri farm.  My gardening habit didn't survive my transition into motherhood, and our juvenile fruit trees are not producing at a level that would require an actual harvest.  I do go to the farmers market most weekends.  That's almost like harvesting our own food, right? 

We ARE however, fully into the harvest season. As in, we went to the pumpkin patch and tossed some Halloween/Harvest décor around the house. 

Our trip to the pumpkin patch this year was similar to past years.  We joined Carol, our former childcare provider (and one of our most favorite people), at Hawes Historic Farms.  I love Hawes because their field trip package is designed with great sensitivity to the toddler-preschool market.  (Incidentally, we love Carol for the same reason.)  Basically the trip is perfect for those with the attention span of a gnat. 

You enter the farm and find pumpkins and hay bales perfectly arranged for harvest portraits.  The kids quickly get bored and antsy, so your Pumpkin Tour Guide moves you along to the next activity: bouncing on the giant pillow trampoline!  They wear the kids out a bit, but not completely because there is much more on the agenda.  We played in the playground, shot ears of corn out of an air cannon, watched pig races, fed the goats, tried the mini-corn maze, pet the cows, and eventually took a hayride out to the pumpkin patch to select the perfect pumpkin.  Phew!  Are you tired yet?  The kids weren't.  They sat down for about 10 minutes to eat lunch and then went back for more of that giant pillow trampoline.

Our big five-year-old was determined to get a BIG pumpkin this year.  I had to reign in those fantasies and remind her that she could get the BIGGEST pumpkin in the world....that she could carry herself.  You see, the Hawes field trip pricing includes a pumpkin, as long as you have reasonable expectations.  Anything too large (bigger than say...your head) was $.30/pound.  And let's face it.  I had the backpack full of jackets and snacks, a toddler that may or may not make it to the car on his own two feet, and two kids that had spent 3.5 hours having the TIME OF THEIR LIVES at the pumpkin patch.  I was in no position to take on any extra responsibility for an oversized gourd.  I had crowd management and meltdown-avoidance maneuvers to worry about. 

I'm happy to report everyone found the perfect pumpkin.  One was big...

 

One was green...

And we all harvested another season of pumpkin patch memories.