Saturday, Joanne and I went to the Pumpkin Patch that Jay and Lisa Nuckols, from White Fall farm, http://whitefallfarm.com/ own in Mount Airy near Gretna. It was our Saturday to work the concession stand for Saint Andrews UMC.
Joanne and I were joined by Jean Shelton fixing hotdogs. We also sold sodas, bottled water, chips, cookies and brownies. We had a really good day for sales, one of the busiest ever. I think the increase in the amount of visitors to the Pumpkin Patch was due to the publicity it received on the television. See the earlier blog. I will be the first to admit that I am not the best selection for a cook, but I didn't burn as many this year as I did last year. Jean put the fixings on the hotdogs, while Joanne took orders and kept up with the payments.
We also took our dog, Millie, with us to the Pumpkin Patch. This was her first outing in the country and she was having a great time with all the new smells. There were a couple of big dogs roaming around that she showed no fear of, even though she would have made only a small snack to them. We did go out together to select a pumpkin, she seemed to like the one we chose to decorate.
She did get a little cold and when she started to shiver we put her up in the chair and covered her with a blanket. We eventually had to take her back to the parsonage when the sun started going down. When we went back that night, she came out to meet us without getting out from under the blanket. It looked a blanket floating acroos the floor, her nose wasn't even showing.
There were two rodeo bulls at the Pumpkin Patch from Dan and Herb Lanier. These lovelies were huge. Ferdinand preferred to lay around and people watch. While Wasabi, the bruiser with those large horns, would paw at the ground and rush the fence whenever someone got closer to the caution tape than he thought was appropriate. The kids loved them. Millie was indifferent.
The weekends are full of pumpkin hunts. A.J. and Lisa scatter hundreds of small pumpkins out in the field of tall grass. The kids and parents board the hay trailers for a ride out into the fields. Each child has a grocery sack to collect their pumpkins. After a given amount of time everyone reboards and heads back to the starting point.
The kids spread out their pumpkins and with the help of their parents count how many they have brought back. The kids are divided into age groups and the one in each age group who has bagged the most pumpkins wins a big pumpkin to take home. Each child gets to keep 3 of the small pumpkins that they found. No one leaves empty handed.
I love watching the smaller children picking pumpkins. They like to roll on them, sit on them, and usually pick one that they can barely lift. But, they never put it back and get a smaller one.
This is the pumpkin we decorated for our stand. I call it the pumpkin for the "Carving Impaired" or for those whose spouse won't let them use a sharp implement. I tried to tell Joanne, "I can't carve a pumpkin face with a spoon!". Jean named the pumpkin "Rufus the Pirate", after her husband and he doesn't even have a moustache.
The night ends with folks sitting around the fire. The more adventurous are still going through the corn maze and the hay castle with flashlights.
It was a busy day. Joanne and I had thought we'd get some slow times during the day for a walk in the maze, but it didn't happen. Just being here was fun in itself. I like the atmosphere, the sounds or lack of, the families together, the smiling kids, the colors, and weather of autumn. I hope you get a chance to come on down. The Pumpkin Patch is in Mount Airy, 10 miles east of Gretna on route 40 and then 1/4 mile south on route 640. If you want to plug it into your GPS use this: 6001 Riceville Road, Gretna, Virginia, 24557. You won't be disappointed and it beats picking a pumpkin at the grocery store by a long shot.
1 comment:
how much does the pumpkin patch just to get in
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