Pumpkin Patch Field Trip!

It's been a few years since we visited a pumpkin patch......this year we had a great opportunity to visit a local farm and hear all about pumpkins and gourds. When we arrived all the kids gathered in the barn for "Pumpkin School".

 

The kids listened intently to all the good information they were being presented.

Here are a couple of fun pumpkin facts.....

Is a pumpkin a veggie or fruit? 

A: Fruit was her answer, because it has seeds inside.

When a pumpkin vine produces a blossom a bee must pollinate the blossom. How many times must a bee visit before a pumpkin can form? 

A: about 13 times

She explained how they plant, care for, and harvest the pumpkins & gourds. She also showed each kind of pumpkin and gourd so the kids could know what seed type to plant in their own garden. We made our list! NEXT, we loaded onto the hay wagon, and headed to the patch!

Zach cruising the patch...

Here are the pumpkins everyone settled on.

We enjoyed looking around at the things the farm grew and had for sale.

The HUGE gourds were so COOL....about 20-30 lbs!!!

After completing the field trip, we came home to paint/carve our pumpkins.

A hint: When painting we use egg cartons to hold each color of paint. It works really well!

Julia painted, but the boys wanted to carve. We harvested, rinsed, salted, and oven-dried all the pumpkin seeds from the boy's pumpkins for a tasty snack. We rinsed and let Julia's pumpkins seeds dry (on a towel), then stored them in an envelope. We plan to use them in our own patch next year.