A few weeks ago I told you we went to the pumpkin patch. I wanted to share all about it, but I never got the chance. This year we went to the Johnston Pumpkin Farm in Greenbrier. I had never been to this one before and I must say I was very pleased all the way around. We went with our homeschool group and got a school group package for pricing. Call ahead for details: (501)679-5078. The package we had included some pretty neat stuff. It had a guided tour around the patch that started for us with a brief talk about cotton – the picking of, the history of, the uses for. Then we moved onto story time about the first Thanksgiving and then a short talk about different kinds of pumpkins and gourds.
We then moved over to the history of the ways Americans have brought water to their homes.
I loved that the demonstrations were hands on for the kids.
Next we moved onto the animals section. This was really popular with the kids. It was an informative, animal by animal, petting zoo kind of demo. There were baby ducklings and chicks, full grown geese, chickens, and roosters, a turkey that we got to gobble for us, a horse, a calf, some pigs (hands off!), rabbits, sheep, and goats. Each animal was given their own time and attention.
Then we moved over to the Native American talk. We sat at a teepee, ground corn, and talked about the nomadic Indians of the past.
From there we were ready for the hayride!
It was short, but fun none the less.
After the hayride we were free to roam and spend our time as leisurely as we pleased. We were also free to get our sack lunches we had packed in the van and sit in the shade at the picnic tables and enjoy our lunch. The tables were near the spiderweb maze that the kids played in as they liked.
There was the cool old truck that was not only picture worthy, but fun to play in.
There was the little playset you see in the background and a volleyball net. And the highlight of the day for my 3 year old was the giant sand pile. Here’s the oldest playing in it as well.
Before we left we picked pumpkins. Part of our package was a chance for each child to pick their own pumpkin pie sized pumpkin or 3 little ornamental pumpkins. If you wanted to pay an additional price for the larger pumpkins you were welcome to. Here’s each of ours with their finds.
There were also lots of photo ops. Like this cute idea. They have this measuring stick you stand your child next to each year. I just collaged all of ours into one pic.
A couple of other notes: they have a very cute gift shop with lots of yummy goodies I wish I’d bought. You can follow them on facebook. They were very sweet, very large-family homeschooling friendly. And they didn’t have one scary Halloween decoration. That’s a big bonus for us. My kids (and myself) don’t like the gross and scary stuff of this season. They had lots of cute decorations and scarecrows all over. This was our favorite display.
If you’ve already been pumpkin patching this year, think about them for next. It’s quiet, friendly and just off the main road – easy to find.
