Pumpkin Patch Trips: Three in One Season!

Last Fall, our family took many trips to the pumpkin patch. We started off the season with a trip to Roloff Farm. This is the pumpkin patch featured on the TV show Little People, Big World.

We wandered the pumpkin patch first, looking for the perfect pumpkin. Once we found what we were looking for, it was off to the animals. Yes! Roloff Farms has several animals, some that you can pet, and some that you can't.The first animal area that we came to was the petting section. There were goats, sheep, and a donkey. When we finished up with them, we walked a little further and found the exotic animals. There was a porcupine and a small cat of some sort. Liam was so excited!

There was a pumpkin fun house, where each room displayed a pumpkin family....interesting, but the kids liked it, a haystack pyramid, a snack bar with coffee, hot chocolate, and other treats, and face painting. There is also a gift shop, but it was pretty much a souvenir shop for the show, not very pumpkin patchy. Overall, the kids had fun, but it was too commercialized for me.

Later that week, we met up with some friends to visit The Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm near Woodburn. As the name hints, this farm is best known for their Tulip Festival in the Spring, but they also host an awesome pumpkin patch in the fall. I think that this is one of the best pumpkin patches I've been to for young kids. So much to do!

They have archery, a corn maze, rubber duck races, pedal tractors, potato guns, a pumpkin cannon, two hay rides, and a couple play structures for kids to climb. The gift shop is filled with holiday items and yummy treats and there is a picnic area with a food cart. Unfortunately  my camera started to act up while on this trip, so I don't have a whole lot of pictures to show, but the ones that I do, show some of the fun we had.

The Wooden Shoe is a bit pricier, in that you have to pay just to get in, plus pumpkins, plus anything else you choose to purchase. But if you plan to make a day of it, it really is a great place for the little ones. Liam had a wonderful time and was so upset when we had to leave. But it was nap time, and it was raining (per the black clouds in the sky).

The last patch we visited was our family favorite, Hiser Farms near Dayton. We love this patch because it is very family friendly, has a lot to do, family run, and (until recently) was not overly commercialized. Now there are a few "money-makers" like the helicopter ride and the authentic army tank, but it still has the same old small-town stuff that they had when I was a kid as well.

There is an old barn where they show The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown in the loft, and have a floor full of animals to pet, feed, and observe on the lower level. There is an old fire truck to climb on, and ride (for an added fee), a corn maze, hay stack slide, peddle tractors, a small train, pony rides, hay ride, and of course, the pumpkin patch.

The gift shop/food bar is adorable and filled with handcrafted items and delicious food. The prices are the best we've found (other than the extra activities, which can be a bit pricey depending on how many you choose to do), and the pumpkins were in the best shape of all the farms we visited. As the years go by, and the farm becomes more of a tourist attraction than a authentic farm, we may be on the look-out for another place to purchase our pumpkins.