our lil' patch of a lotta pumpkins

This was our 4th year running our family's pumpkin patch, and our most successful one yet. It is a wonderful family project, and a {mostly} enjoyable way to teach the value of working together to our children. Every year the yield from the 1/4 acre patch changes. This year, we grew a LOT of pumpkins, but they were all smaller than pumpkins in years' past. We estimated this year's crop was about 600 pumpkins total.

We had a lot of variation of pumpkins this year, too; more than we have ever grown before. We planted 9  varieties in 4 different colors. We grew a lot of the miniature ones, and had two wheelbarrows full of just them! We sold them at 2/$1 just like we did the Indian Corn that we grew.

This is the first year we grew pink & blue ones. Both kinds are carriage-shaped and have thicker flesh. The blue ones were actually a bluish-green in color, and the pink ones were pale-yellow/light-orange in color. The blue ones were popular, and we'll probably grow them again next year. The pink ones weren't big sellers, so we won't be planting them again. (a blue one is in the front, 2nd from left)

We also grew white Lumina pumpkins again this year. They're finicky and rot quicker than the orange ones, but everyone loves them. We didn't have as many big ones like we've had in the past, but we sold out of all the good white ones we had. (a pink one is two pumpkins to the right of the white)

We also tried "Spotted" pumpkins this year. We planted a whole row of them, but only 4 pumpkins grew. They were absolutely gorgeous and truly a different sight, but the cost of the 20 seeds wasn't worth only producing 4 pumpkins.

We grew a half row of the super large ones, and disappointingly only 2 came out of those seeds that didn't get eaten by the deer: one of them was green, and the other was orange. We had a much larger crop last year of the "ginormous" ones.

And then we planted 3 varieties of regular orange pumpkins: connecticut field, sugar, and giant magic.

My favorite ones are the pear-shaped ones. We had 3 of them this year:

Josh loves the tall, skinny ones. We only had 2 of those this year:

I also like the ones with weird markings that stand out, like these ones:

Besides just selling pumpkins, we also have several extra attractions at our pumpkin patch. Each year, I add one or two things to keep things new for our returning customers. This year, I added pumpkin fudge to the menu of pumpkin pie, and it was a huge hit! I make both recipes with home-grown, home-canned pumpkin so the fudge and pie both have a much fresher taste.

Another new addition this year was the garden slingshot. I made a pouch and we built a big slingshot with a target 50 feet away to shoot potatoes, small pumpkins, onions, and small corn at. The cost was two shots for a dollar, and if they hit any part of the target, the shooter got a prize. It was fun for older kids and young teenagers. Ammon was in charge of all the sales from the slingshot, and he did a good job manning the booth (and practicing when no customers were around!).

The last new addition for this year was a corn-bag toss. I cut and painted a board to look like a jack-o-lantern, and sewed little bags and filled them with corn seeds. Lots of younger kids liked this new activity (and my boys practiced when they weren't busy).

We had two places set up to take photos at: the straw bales for groups, and the cinderella carriage cut-out for individuals:

And of course, we had the hay-bale maze next to the pumpkin patch again this year. Josh helped me strategically place some of the bales to change up the maze pattern this year. Edward, my father-in-law, had the initial idea for it and helps us every year by growing, harvesting, and moving around the large haybales. Kids love this maze! We had 3 rows this year with rounded outsides, so the rows were curved, making it  easier to play hide-and-seek in.

Edward added a double-stacked section on the back end of the maze between the first and second weekends, and I was surprised when I found it! It was a fun addition.

I added some large spiders and fake webs to the maze this year, too. I told all the kids they had to find the baby spiders, the daddy spider, and the mommy spider in the maze, and that if they would touch the mommy one she would laugh at them. Kids loved it! And they kept going back again and again! I'm definitely adding more lively spiders to the maze next year!

Jonah and Micah get all the money from the patch, which is why the patch is named "Lil' Munchkins Patch of Pumpkins". So they had to help plant the seeds, weed the patch, pluck the pumpkins from the vines, and they have to help on sale days (Fridays & Saturdays in October) by carrying pumpkins to the weigh table and to the customers' cars for them using wagons and wheelbarrows.

They also helped stack and lay-out the pumpkins in the field. Each Saturday night we would stack the pumpkins in piles on crates, cover them to help insulate them against the frost, and the following Friday we would uncover the piles and they helped individually place each pumpkin in the field.

The weather this year was beautiful for the first two weekends we were open. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect setting! I love sitting and taking in the beautiful sight of the pumpkins and the mountains and the surroundings. The last weekend we encountered some snow. It was cold and slow, but surprisingly we still had customers come out!

We did so well this year. We sold all but about 50 pumpkins, which I used to make pumpkin puree with. The patch this year was such a success! We were so happy with all our new and previous customers that came. It really makes running the patch worth it, to spend time with good people. All the profit goes into the twins' mission/college savings accounts, and they are allowed to keep some spending money from it after all their hard work, as well, which they were happy about. They were also very glad when it was all over with, too!