"Pumpkin picking" WTF

[HauntedGusset]

Driving home from a visit to family today there was an absolutely massive traffic jam caused by cars entering/leaving a farm shop that also has a small events centre attached. I last passed the farm shop a few weeks ago and they had some other event on with cars parked all over the field nearest the road. Anyway today the same field was covered in huge pumpkins with families trudging round in the mud "picking" them - but they didn't grow there, they can't have done as the same field was a car park last month They've just been plonked there. Someone tell me why this is a thing?

(And no, I don't have small DC anymore so I suppose I've missed this becoming popular, I was vaguely aware people pick pumpkins but imagined it to be like picking strawberries where you actually pick them fresh from the plant, not like a crapper muddier version of just buying one from Lidl!)

I've got a couple from aldi but I don't see any harm in a farm visit with snacks etc proba good for the kids to see where things grow ?

Really? You can't believe that people enjoy a day out just for the fun of it?

How sad.

I totally agree!

I do take photos but I never post them anywhere and am not active on those types of SM platforms.

I do love seeing the memories of previous years come up on my Google Photos, though. Surprisingly to some, memories of happy times are beautiful things.

I think it's a bit like PYO christmas tree. The ones I've seen have never been on an actual tree farm. The trees are cut. They prop them up in a field. You wander around and 'pick' your tree and someone comes to bag it up and shove it on your car. Costs like £50 more per tree than going to the garden centre, but you get an experience. There's hot chocolate for sale and a Santa's grotto. I'm cheap, and I can grow things myself, so it's not for me, but the PYO farm near us is always massively busy no matter what season and what they have for picking (currently, it's pumpkins).

That said, we grow our own pumpkin patch and go pumpkin picking every year and the kids love it. I have a wheelbarrow full of pumpkins still even after all the carving and all the pumpkin soup.

I've nothing against the activity if people want to do it. But there does seem to be an epidemic of poorly thought-through traffic management associated with it. I ended up stuck in gridlocked traffic for 45 minutes due to one of these near me. IMO local authorities should be given the power to shut this kind of thing down if it causes problems on that scale. Many of those stuck will have been trying to make a journey for a more important purpose (e.g., just about anything!).

It’s so much fun and where we go yij can go in the evening and it has a spooky glow up trail with skeletons and lazers, a ferris wheel. It’s a whole thing. I’ve taken my now 16 year old for a few years and we both love it. I don’t mind paying I bit extra for making this season a little less grey and rainy.

We took the Gdcs to a pumpkin-pick in a huge field, but they had obviously grown there. Much more expensive than buying a couple in Asda, but there were loads of Halloween decorations and other activities, and the Gdcs thoroughly enjoyed it, so it was worth it.

I agree, what a horrid post. Might be best not to insult your parents customer base when you've posted on here where you are from.

All for the photos for social media!

Oh hey I think I know the one you mean!

That sounds brilliant!

Why is people talking their kids run about in a field and choose pumpkins any better/worse than taking them to run about at, eg, castle ruins or a beach or the park? It gets them outdoors, and it's a once-a-year thing so it feels like an exciting novelty for them, and they get to carve a pumpkin afterwards. It's not really a big deal, is it? I don't have kids but to me, this just seems like a day out where they get some fresh air and then come home with a pumpkin, rather than a bit of plastic tat from a gift shop. Sounds fine.

Also, sounds like a really good way for farmers to diversify and bring in some much needed extra income.

Because

a) they don't do it themselves and it's not enough for it merely not to be their thing, it must also be a sign of their moral and overall superiority

b) it's become a bit more popular in recent years (it isn't a new thing) and they must hasten to distance themselves from anything popular because otherwise they won't be above the masses.

I'm surprised nobody's claimed it's so terribly working class yet but I'm sure they will soon.

Couple years ago we went to one, some still had the sticker on £1.50.....on weigh in they wanted £25....and people were paying!!

They have, they have just used the favoured MN euphemism ‘naff’ because they know they’ll get a flaming if they use ‘chavvy’, ‘common’ etc. It comes down to sneering at those they consider beneath them.

So going to this type of activity to take photos with a dog is baffling to me, do you sit down years from now with the dog and reminisce over photos about the time you went pumpkin picking?

It's baffling to you that some people enjoy taking photos? Really? Or is it only photos of a dog you have a problem with? Are people who like dogs not allowed to like having nice pictures of them? Why would it be baffling that someone might take a photo of something they like?

Pretty much everyone I know who owns a dog or a cat takes loads of photos of them because a) they like their dog or cat and would probably like a record of them after they've gone and b) getting a good photo of something is a satisfying process.

Why do Mumsnetters think that photos have to have a purpose anyway? Some people just like taking pictures as a fun, creative activity. People go to places for the purposes of taking photos in a specific setting all the time.

If you are really that 'baffled' that some people like different things to you, you might have some faulty wiring in your head, because it's really not that hard to comprehend. I don't like (for example) camping, but I don't find it 'baffling' that other people might want do it. Grow up.

Nothing funnier than MNers tying themselves in knots trying to describe something as common or beloved of the working classes without actually using the terms ‘common’ or ‘working class’. On Baby Names they delicately suggest that a name is ‘a little downmarket’ 😂

I must admit I was disappointed when I took the kids to a pumpkin patch, thinking it would be like the Christmas tree place, or strawberry picking where you actually get to take them from the vine, but the pumpkins were just hanging out on bales/around a (very pretty) caravan etc.

They had little displays, and a play area, and a cafe, and you could walk a donkey pulling a little cart or with little baskets on to 'pick' your pumpkin, and I was won around.

If I was wading through a muddy field full of pre-picked pumpkins having wrestled through traffic to get there, I would have been decidedly less charmed I must say.

We've gone 2 years in a row and we're turning it into a lovely little family tradition. When DS was 1.5, he enjoyed the mud and being pushed about in the wheelbarrow and he also carried his own little pumpkin all the way round. He didn't have a clue what was going on, but sploshing about in the mud and laughing his head off while DH pushed him round made it a fun day out. There was also a play area at this particular farm, so we did that too.

He's 2.5 now and this year, he rode in the wheelbarrow for a bit but mostly pushed his own little wheelbarrow and picked a pumpkin, then swapped it a few times for other ones that took his fancy. He liked the knobbly ones best i think because of the texture, so we taught him to say 'knobbly bobbly pumpkins!' whenever he found a good one and it turned into a lovely little game. We chatted about how pumpkins grow from little seeds and at the one we went to, you could also pick your own potatoes, corn and carrots too. We picked a few of each and when we got home, he helped to prepare the veggies we'd just picked and we made a cottage pie together which we ate half of for dinner, then on the Sunday we carved the pumpkins and he painted his. The rest of the veggies we picked we used for a Sunday roast and had some roasted pumpkin instead of parsnips.

When we'd scooped the pumpkins out, we put all the seeds to one side and made a ton of soup with the flesh. We had that for lunch and froze the rest, about 24 portions in total. DS helped to put the seeds in one bowl and the flesh in another, he loved sorting through it all.

We dried the seeds off with kitchen roll and left them to dry out, then DS helped to put them in an envelope and we'll be planting them in pots in April.

2 full days of entertainment for a toddler, about 30 portions of food (although obviously needed extra ingredients, so add about £10 to the cost for those) and it cost me £10.

I think it's a bit like PYO christmas tree. The ones I've seen have never been on an actual tree farm.

The two I've been to round me, and the one I used to go to when I lived elsewhere have all been farms... You get a ribbon/tag, wander around and pick your tree in the drizzle/growing darkness, and flag down a dude on a quad who comes and chops it down with a chainsaw for you. It's the start of Christmas for us here :)

I prefer to pick my pumpkin virtually from my grocery shopping app

ManateeFair
Honestly I don't think it's inherently better or worse than any other outdoor activities in terms of running around outside. It's not my cup of tea because of all the other stuff.

I'm tight and have no desire to spend over the odds to traipse to the same place as half the county, queue to get into a muddy field car park, to mill around and dodge people having their hay bale photo shoots, or struggle to get through the gates/entrance for the family posing under the displays. That's before the online queuing for tickets that people sit waiting to open so they can get slots on the right weekend.

If it brings people joy then it's a nice family activity. I'm a miserable git and would rather go any other local outdoor places than these very popular and busy things.

My mum wouldn't have taken us pumpkin picking if it was a thing when I was little because she would have thought it was common. There were a lot of local things we didn't do, traditions in our little town, bonfire night etc as she didn't want to be seen as a commoner. It makes me want to do everything with my children. I'm

Goodadvice1980

OP I agree it does seem a bit cringey and another americanisation 🎃 however with the cost of living crisis I think if parent(s) are struggling with money and they can afford it for their DC it’s probably better value than a crappy amusement park!

Maybe but the one near us isn’t a cheap do at all. £8.50 per person to go in and pumpkin price of around £7.

When you see them in the supermarket for £2 it would be too much of a rip off for me.

Luckily I no longer have children young enough to want to go there so I’ve no tough choices to make.

Riveting.

It's hardly picking your pumpkin is it? It's a request for a pumpkin.