"Pumpkin picking" WTF

Exactly! It’s not about the kids having fun as much as it is about the haybale family photo 😂🎃👨‍👩‍👧‍👦

Oh I too assumed that you 'picked' your own pumpkin, didn't know they were ready picked. What's the point in spreading them all out in a muddy field? Why not just pile them up somewhere dry and let people sort through them?

We did it about two years ago when our kids were 10 and 13 - I think all the other kids there were under 6 but ours didn't care and enjoyed the picking and climbing the giant pile of haybales. It was daft fun.

We went on a day out a few weeks ago, we looked at some animals, kids did a few activities as well as soft play. They also had a pumpkin picking session where we were given a voucher to get the kids a pumpkin and went on a tractor to the fields.

Some of them were placed, some still on the vines but the kids had a blast choosing their own pumpkin, going on a tractor and getting covered in mud. Me not so much.

I forgot to take any pictures (apart from of a guinea pig to send to my mum) so it definitely wasn't "all about the gram" It's because it's something different and a lot more fun for the kids than going to the supermarket to get one.

Mine grew out of this kind of thing just as it started. There's a farm that does it in walking distance from home, and I get the joy of watching the pumpkins grow through the summer and autumn. Fair play to them.

I just know better than to drag a grudging DS1 through that volume of mud 😂

We went for the first time this year and bloody loved it! The big pumpkins were pre cut but the smaller squashes were still on the vine and had to be wrestled off. Its a fun day out, brings in extra income for struggling farmers, helps small businesses like burger vans, coffee stands, Doughnuts, etc, and I get mum points for 'making memories' with the dc. Win win.

It sounds fun, if you have children of the right age. We always do strawberry picking, apple picking and sunflower picking (it’s very rural round us). There’s no harm it it, surely?

@midnightblue12 In previous years, I had wondered about the practicalities of the cutting!

This seems like one of the nicer Halloween activities. A clever bit of diversification for farmers.

We go to a pumpkin patch every year, the kids love it and I've never posted about it on social media..For us it's just one of the points in the year that marks the changing seasons, and beats an afternoon at home watching TV or whatever!

Yes I stupidly thought you actually got to pick the pumpkin off the plant until recently. I guess I just couldn't imagine that people would pay £10 to go to a muddy field to buy a muddy pumpkin that's just been dropped there by the farmer. I'd just take mine to the park to play in the mud and buy a nice clean pumpkin from Tesco for £2.50. I guess it's all about #makingmemories but good on the farmers for cashing in on people's need to make everything into an event.

We go to a local farm 5 mins away and the pumpkins are def grown there, some we had to break the stalks off. Kids love it, is a bit of fun in the fresh air and gives some extra money to the local farm, everyone's a winner in my eyes. Yes more expensive than going to Lidl but it's a bit more fun for the kids. I wouldn't be happy if they were charging entrance fee though.

I've just been pumpkin picking, off the vine though. I'm carving them now and they are far superior to ones you get in lidl, they smell amazing, are soft and easy to scoop and my parrots are going to have a feast!

You can actually recreate this yourself: buy some pumpkins from supermarket. Chuck in your local park or garden. Get DCs to ‘pick’ them.

or, just grow your own. Pumpkins are easy.

I agree traffic jams and crowds to fight over some pre placed pumpkins seems over commercialised. If you want fresh air, walk to the bloody shop and avoid being one of the ‘sheeple’.

(sorry if a bit shouty, wine has been taken)

I’m all for it so YABU, but let’s not pretend we are all doing it for kiddiwinkies to have ‘fun’ as much as we are getting photos to show off and brag about it on social media!

We've done it in the past at our local PYO. It's only about a mile away from us and it a great local place with a free park for the kids so we like to support them where we can. I wasn't organised enough to book pumpkin picking from there this year but doing the Halloween trail tomorrow. My kids love it and it's a relatively cheap half term activity.

It’s really not, maybe for some people but not for a lot of us. My DC loves it, she gets to run around in a field and pick her own pumpkin. It’s cheap entertainment for a few pounds and then you get to carve the pumpkin at home too. If you don’t like it then don’t go to one but don’t assume everything is about photos!

Er? OP didn't say it WAS offensive.🙄

Honestly I think it's great that farmers can diversify, they're having a hard enough time as it is so let them provide the pumpkin experience

What a bunch of misery guts some of you are!

It's half term, most parents of young children are looking for things to do - bonus points for outdoor activities to give the kids some fresh air and exercise. It's nearly halloween, most people buy pumpkins, farmers can grow pumpkins and need money.

Most of the farms near us make it an event with extras like hay bales to climb on, ride-on tractors, food stalls etc. It's a day out for families and an income stream for them. Win-win.

And if it annoys half of mumsnet I guess that's an added bonus!

Slugs ate my pumpkin plant back in rainy July 😡

I did actually think these places grew them in my naivety. Oh well DD too old now anyway 🤷

Love to know if you feel the same about the National Trust.

American nonsense.

Exactly.

So, when we’ve had PYO pumpkin in the actual fields we have had to sever the pumpkin from the plant anyway as they are huge, fleshy stalks. The fields are wet, the vines leaves die away from sept onwards so more earth it exposed, it’s slippery and not pleasant, especially with young children. Picking them and moving them to a paddock for people to pick is a lot more pleasant experience and we’ve had a lot of customers comment to that end.

It’s not for everyone, but I can never understand why people find it such an offensive activity. We also have pigs and any excess is fed to them, it’s quite an efficient crop for us to grow.

We did pumpkin picking at a PYO farm - the pumpkins were grown there but pre-cut and moved to the undercover pumpkin picking area - there were thousands of them, and DC massively enjoyed rooting through them all to find the perfect one that was just the right size and shape with the right type of handle. It was an hour and a half in the fresh air where they weren’t on screens, and they actually got along with eachother, and well worth the £3 fee! Pumpkins themselves were no more expensive than the supermarket.

Though there is a place closer to us that charges like £18 per person for a “pumpkin experience”, and that is clearly insane, but it’s sold out every year!