Pumpkin Hunt

This weekend sparked the first stirrings of Halloween spirit in me. Saturday evening was spent kicking back with a few friends, lots of candy corn, House on Haunted Hill, and Evil Dead II. We carved pumpkins as we screamed and laughed through the films, and the next morning I roasted pumpkin seeds and made tissue ghosts to hang in our doorway.

I'm getting my spooks and chills on while I can, since these upcoming months promise a life of semi-permanent theatre vampiredom.

While it's been ages since I've visited a proper pumpkin patch, I must admit that our daytime journey to Dr. Maze's Farm in Redmond failed to live up to my childhood memories. In eastern Washington, farms are abound with endless orchards; apple and peach-picking goes hand-in-hand with choosing out your pumpkin. There are hayrides through the hills and enormous corn mazes. There is livestock and live music, homemade pies and wheat fields for days.

The Puget Sound, on the other hand, decided to grace us with the hottest weather we've had all week, bathing this randomly rural patch in blinding late-afternoon sunlight. My comrades and I, who'd donned sweaters, fleeces, and boots in (perhaps overly optimistic) autumn spirit, found ourselves boiling in the heat. By the time we broke for kettle corn, I'd shed down to my camisole and J had turned his pullover into something like a turban. A bit of a motley crew for harvest season.

Speaking of motley, the farm itself was... curious. The pumpkin patch, while fairly sizable, sat just a few yards from the parking lot. The corn/sunflower maze looked patchy and droopy in the hot sun. My hay ride reveries were quickly obscured by the suburban reality: a tractor which pulled a large covered trailer behind it on a loop around the patch and surrounding area, only to return about 10 minutes later. Not exactly a romantic adventure through the countryside.

Expectations aside, the day served its purpose: we had some good, old-fashioned harvest time fun and procured some beautiful pumpkins. Happy October, everybody!