"Pumpkin picking" WTF

I took my DC aged 12 and 14 yesterday and they loved it! It was great to get them off screens for a bit. And yes, I did post a picture of them on FB (with their permission) because it’s rare to get a picture of the two of them together where they aren’t bickering!

Wtaf Asda stickers on?!

I love seeing everyone’s pumpkin picking photos, it’s only become a really big thing over the past few years and my dc are too old to be interested now. We saw a big farm shop doing this whilst we were on holiday in Devon a couple of years ago and dd wouldn’t let me go chose a pumpkin as apparently ‘I’m too old’. Anyway this year I have an allotment and I have my own mini pumpkin patch 😁.

I love this time of year, not really a huge Halloween fan but I love autumn and all the colours. I know Halloween never used to be this big and it’s an American thing but if people enjoy it then I don’t see the issue. It’s a good reason to get the dc out of the house and into the fresh air.

It’s a thing. I never did it as a child (70s) but DNephew 5, went this year and I think last year.

I saw on a BBC morning show last week that one farm in Essex grows 400,000 of them and that pumpkin picking and carving has increased in popularity so I guess that’s good for this farmer. They have to be picked for shops by hand, no machinery can do it and pumpkins are classed as a fruit.

It’s not the same at all. We have a lavender farm close by , the lavender grows there. We also have several farm shops where you can ‘pick’ pumpkins that have been brought in and dumped in field. In this case ‘pick your own’ really means ‘choose your own’.

Usually if you go at the start of the opening it is pumpkins they’ve grown, then the import them in.

We do it I far prefer supporting local farmers running these sort of events then the likes of huge supermarkets who drive down prices.

It's definitely not £50 by me, think we spent £13 in total including a hot drink, tractor toys, bales etc.

Lots of farmers have to diversify just to stay afloat I see no issue with it if people want to do it!

The farm near my house grows them and also tops them up with trucks of imported pumpkins.

What on earth is materialistic about pumpkins 🤣

Aw, I really enjoyed the one I did. It was lovely weather and a nice atmosphere and we only paid for the pumpkins, and some games like welly wanging! My teen goes to one with her friend every year and loves it too. There were some very disgruntled two year olds from a local nursery wondering what the muddy hell they’d been brought to, though.

• my toddler enjoys it
• I enjoy it
• fresh air
• Halloween is good fun
• good for local farm revenue

The local farm shop near me does the pumpkin placing. It a nice petting farm but the woman who runs it is vile. There was loads of uproar last year as loads of the pumpkins still had the Asda stickers on 😂

I had a brilliant time pumpkin picking. It’s miserable this time of year, anything that gets me out of the house and outdoors is fantastic by me.

I’d do that do that for a tenner too….. the one near us would set us back £42 for a family of 4 for entry and a pumpkin each🙈

This!

You you can can enjoy a walk AND do this sort of thing too. They're not mutually exclusive.

Why do people have to be so judgemental about what others choose to do?

God forbid people have a nice day out.

We go to our local open farm. All the usual farm visit stuff plus the kids enjoy picking the pumpkins with the wheelbarrow, they do the carving and we all get hot chocolate and marshmallows.

There's enough days lost to the daily grind, it's nice to do something different.

And no social media here, although I do like having some nice photos to look back at myself.

The one we went to must've imported the vines too as the pumpkins in the field were still on theirs. I went because my little one takes great delight in being bumped over rough surfaces in his buggy, he might not be able to walk, talk or even see but it doesn't mean he doesn't like a stomp through a muddy field just like lots of other preschoolers. It cost me £3 for a reasonable sized white pumpkin, there was no admission fee and we had great fun.

We go every year and have a lovely time although we do go to a place where you can pick from the vine.
My girls love walking around the field and finding the perfect pumpkin to take home to carve and then make pumpkin soup.
We went yesterday to one where the main business is a gin distillery, we had a lovely walk around the field followed by gin tasting. The pumpkins cost us £8 the bottle of gin £40 😂

Went to one today - free entry and the pumpkins were grown in the field.

Classic example of inverse snobbery

What if its purely for the child to enjoy? Like Christmas? I might post a picture or two on Christmas on my family FB but honestly it's just to give my child a good childhood. We had fuck all growing up. Piss poor, no holidays, very rare days out. Was my childhood better for it? Like fuck it was. Pumpkin picking was £3.50 in a local working farm. Imagine the outrage if I said why go to local farm ( Hobbs) when I had Lidl (Shein). Miserable fuckers

We do it because it supports local farms and DC enjoys it. I don’t have social media so the photos are just for us.

We went for the first time this year and yes, I did expect to be picking pumpkins from a pumpkin vine and was very disappointment to find them just rolling around on the ground 🤣 they were also extortionately priced!

The kids had a great time though so it was worth the price, we’ll probably go again next year; it’s nice to support our local farm as they diversify!