"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!)

Wow, so sorry my comment triggered you so much! Calm down deary 😂

’Wholesome’ doesn’t mean ‘authentically reflective of farming life’ though, does it? We don’t let six-year-olds administer foot-and-mouth inoculations or massage cows’ udders to help avoid mastitis on their trips to family farms either.

Yes, but the perpetually offended need something to froth about 😂

The 'target' is very simple, £££££££££££££££££ !

It does 'make memories' though, I remember my granddaughter, almost 3, being taken into a pumpkin shop to choose one, she chose one, dropped it to the floor and almost broke her toes trying to kick it. She thought it was a football!

It’s all a load of rubbish. Better to just get out for a walk.

there is a place near me that does this. Also has some fair ground rides etc, looks nice. we were going to go, but was chucking it down so we went bowling, then picked some pumpkins up from tesco instead. I think it’s turned into a FOMO thing.

People are weird. COL crisis and people will pay for this rubbish. I get picking them from the vine and we have taken our 3 yo every year so far but I feel a mug for paying to get into the field previously. This year went to a different place that was free entry, pumpkins grown on site and pumpkins were cheaper than the supermarket. I wouldn't go again if we had to pay to get in and I definitely wouldn't go anywhere that just puts pumpkins in a field. It's nothing like buying xmas trees from a garden centre. The comparison is buying pumpkins from a supermarket. It's actually like going to a muddy field, paying to go in and picking an xmas tree that you could've bought for less at a garden centre as opposed to going to an xmas tress farm, picking your growing tree in a forest and cutting it down (or more likely getting someone helpful who works there to cut it down for you).

It's hilarious isn't it! But my friend has a farm, it's been a lifesaver for them this year.
We grow our own every year and pumpkin plants are bloody huge, like triffids. They take over the lawn.

It does make me laugh (I've had loads of parent friends showing off their "picked" pumpkins on Instagram) BUT they all seem to have had fun, so what's the harm. Other than being absolutely covered in mud that is!

I'm sorry but this made me laugh so hard....so long as there are people like you there's hope for us surely! I REGULARLY invoke the 'we've had our time' with eyes cast to heaven. Increasingly regularly....🙄

I have kids and think it’s ridiculous 🙈. We don’t bother with it and kids haven’t complained. But then each to their own, I can see why it’s a nice family day out….a think a lot are probably just doing it for the ‘insta’ moment though

It’s all a load of rubbish. Better to just get out for a walk.

Erm, you do know that you can do both, don’t you? 🤣

There's a place near me that's more about photos than PYO.
Every weekend my feeds are full of people doing whatever this venue's latest PYO offering is. I honestly get the impression people must spend their time waiting for the hay bales, props, frame, seasonal arch, seasonal display posing areas to become free because every family I know who goes does an upload of identical photos.

The price is extortionate in my opinion but it's a nice day out and if people are willing to spend a small fortune for an overpriced item of fruit/veg and some photos then they're welcome to it. It's harmless and fun.

Isn't it just monetizing a pagan festival imported directly from the states. It'd be more exciting to grow your own.

Plenty of posters have questioned this pumpkin picking tourism, yet i've been called snobbish childish patronising..... whatever 🙄

No, of course we dont let six year olds do that DrMarshall fgs, but how about teaching kids the names of birds, trees etc.. taking them for a walk to observe nature around us.. or planting seeds to look after, grow things in a pot they can eat.. that to me is more 'wholesome', not going to a Pumpkin patch to toast Marshmallows and get their face painted!

That's odd! We've always gone to actual pumpkin fields. Did they cover the whole car park with straw then?

We've done this two years running with young kids. £3.50 to get in, we spend a happy hour walking around, carting kids around in wheelbarrows, taking photos, watching tractors go up and down, umming and aahing over this pumpkin or that one, maybe a hot chocolate in the farm shop/cafe, then home. This year we spent £8 on four pumpkins.

It's a shit year and a shit time of year to entertain young kids, so it worked for us. My only criticism of it is that the place had "fill a wheelbarrow for £37 [I think)" and some people were going a bit nuts. I work in food waste and that's a real turn-off for me.

Friends of ours have a small holding. They grow and sell Christmas trees, breed animals, etc. This year they grew and sold pumpkins on a small piece of land they had available. Very small scale, but if it’s helped them make a bit more money and people have visited and had fun, then everyone’s a winner I’d say.

I used to live near lavender fields. The local roads were snarled with cars full of people wanting to waft around looking rustic. Twats.

COL crisis and people will pay for this rubbish.

COL crisis isn’t impacting everyone too badly. Even if it is, do you begrudge people a fairly cheap day out with their kids? Parents are trying to do their best. And farmers need to make money to, they’re living with the COL crisis too. I wish people engaged their brain before typing.

You took your dog for photos at a pumpkin patch? I have no words....

Plenty of farmers do this. They're just trying to survive in a crap economic climate. Nobody, unless they're thick, thinks they grew there in perfect rows of freshly laid straw.

Halloween is a Christian festival. It's on the same day as Samhain but Hallowmas and Hallows Eve were initiated by Pope Gregory III in the 8th century. Allhallowtide is the season encompassing All Saints Day, All Souls Day and Hallowmas. Not hard to see how festivals for souls and saints evolved to become ghostly and spooky.

There will inevitably be influence from Samhain as it shares the date, but it's originally a Christian festival.

I took my dog to one for some photos.

Of fuck, you’ve done it now @Vet73 🤣🤣🤣

My only criticism of it is that the place had "fill a wheelbarrow for £37 [I think)" and some people were going a bit nuts.

Maybe they realized they weren't going to sell them all? Then it avoids the food waste. I would have got some for my chickens and made lots of pumpkin soup and pumpkin puree for my dog, so I don't see that as a bad thing (as long as there was enough to go around, of course).