It just wouldn't be October without planting a few bulbs for spring and visiting a pumpkin patch! Someone was excited that we were getting closer and took this picture from the moving vehicle. A week later and that foliage in the distance will be as vibrant as the pumpkins in the field!
This year, we visited Spooner Farms in Orting. This giant jack-o-lantern, large enough for several people to play inside, greets visitors.
These babies represent the other end of the size spectrum.
Gourds have a seemingly endless variety of shapes and color combinations.
They fascinate me.
I used the excuse that my sister, her husband, a nephew, his wife, and two sons will be coming from Alaska to join with family from Washington and Oregon at my house for Thanksgiving (we'll have about 30) to buy several of these for decoration along with a lot of indian corn. Hope they last!
Who knew that there were so many varieties of squash? These are speckled hounds.
The bright orange/red color of Cinderella pumpkins is attractive and they're quite tasty. This is one of my favorite pumpkins to use for baking with soup inside. Here's a recipe that I haven't tried but it looks interesting. Look here for a funny post/delicious recipe for a creamy pumpkin soup that sounds divine.
Creamy orange pumpkin soup served in these ghostly white little pumpkins, black plate or maybe cobalt. I'm liking autumn more and more.
Who knew that there were so many varieties of squash? Turbans always make me smile with their somewhat acorn - like shape and festive colors!
Good old blue hubbard squash.
Pink Banana Sqauash.
Forgot the name of these but aren't they gorgeous? Yummy too.
Speckled Swan Gourds aren't edible but they dry beautifully and are often used to make bird houses.
Spooners had a great variety including delicatas, a personal favorite, and standards like acorn, butternut, etc.
Giant spiders invade the pumpkins. The harvest festival had an atm on site, numerous food vendors (cider, roasted corn, burgers, etc.) an espresso stand, and a pumpkin sling shot.
Not to mention the 5 acre corn maze with two miles in paths. Look here to see a view from the air of a previous Spooner corn maze.
Did someone let the pumpkins cross pollinate with the gourds? Love the warty pumpkins!
We vowed to go earlier next year as the crowd at this popular farm was very large so close to Halloween.
We'll plan to spend more time here next time but for now, it's time to get in the covered wagon and hit the trail.
These gals in the gift shop will be happy to see you too should you decide to go!
With all the great seasonal food, it's easy to make a pig of yourself!
Do you have a favorite pumpkin patch?
What fun! Winter squashes have such endless variety. I love delicatas because they're so easy to cook (no peeling), but for taste, I'll take butternut. I don't know if it's our recent lack of rain, but there's some beautiful foliage out there.
ReplyDeleteNever met a squash I didn't like. I agree, the colors are gorgeous again this year!
DeleteWow that's a full house for Thanksgiving, what fun you'll have! I'm contemplating heading back out to Cistus this week, to see the very end of the 'tough love' sale. If I do I'll be sure to stop in at Kruger's farm, I don't know that it's my favorite punkin patch but it's the only one here in Portland I've gone to.
ReplyDeleteI love hosting Thanksgiving and have done it for the last 26 years with the exception of last year. It's a chance to see family, friends and for this big old house to be filled with people and delicious fragrances. The house seems happiest when it's full.
DeleteWonderful! I do have a favourite pumpkin patch. Willowview Farms. They are an apple farm / pumpkin patch that I make regular visits to! Such fun!
ReplyDeleteCool! Do they sell cider as well? These are such fun places to visit in autumn!
DeleteNow that's a pumpkin patch! We have a few around the area but not like that. Gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteYour family gathering sounds wonderful.
It's so much fun to see all the different things they come up with each year!
DeleteI get all sappy and sentimental on Thanksgiving. It's my favorite holiday. No pressure, no gift buying, little decorating - just family and friends, food and fond memories of home and those we love but see no longer.
Oh I miss the pumpkin patches... haven't been to one in years. What fun to go on a pumpkin walk through your blog.
ReplyDeleteYou should go! It's a wonderful to see the wide eyed faces of children discovering autumn's magic. It's a balm to the soul of a curmudgeon like myself who fondly remembers that long-ago wonder.
DeleteThis year, I liked pumpkin soup! And I cooked it!
ReplyDeleteWow! Fun! Thank you for sharing, Peter. Happy new week!
ReplyDeleteHappy new week to you, Satu!
DeleteHahaha, this is awesome!! I've never seen a place like that!
ReplyDeleteThese farms are great fun to visit!
DeleteThat's one great pumpkin patch! We don't have anything like that.
ReplyDeleteToo arid for pumpkin farming perhaps? These places are great fun!
DeleteI wonder if that might not be the world's LARGEST maze! Remarkable. I need to find a new favorite P. Patch. One I really enjoyed went belly-up :(
ReplyDeleteI HAVE passed a couple of fields of pumpkin while traveling the past month to care for my aging parents. Just haven't stopped. I'm amazed at the variety of squash and pumpkin you featured here! Me? I like the white ones.
There must be larger corn mazes, maybe in Iowa? Sorry that your favorite went out of business! It's very difficult to be a small farmer these days! The white ones are stunning, especially when they are carved exposing the orange flesh!
DeleteThat looks fun! Believe it or not I've never carved a pumpkin before (Mark here), perhaps I ought to try this year....
ReplyDeleteIt's lots of fun. All of my students at school played with pumpkins today. They drew, I cut and they scooped out the pumpkin guts. A fun and fragrant afternoon!
DeleteI'm liking your pumpkin soup suggestions right down to the color of the plate. Martha, move over. I like a drive in the country (with a ferry ride, if possible), stopping at some little out-of-the-way pumpkin patch to choose some to carve and some to eat. I think we'll miss doing that this year, cuz we've gotten caught up in getting plants in the ground and onto the porch before the first freeze.
ReplyDeleteThere's always next fall and the country drive can still be fun after Halloween! Love the idea of a ferry ride thrown in for good measure!
DeleteThere is so much great photo fodder at harvest fest. I loved all the squash and pumpkins.
ReplyDeleteYour thanksgiving table is going to be as tightly packed with goodies as your garden!
ReplyDelete