While looking at the bridges in Madison County, Iowa, we came across this pumpkin patch. I have never seen pumpkins actually growing in a field! Around here, a pumpkin patch means a pile of pumpkins. :-) (I like seeing the green pumpkin in this photo)
Anyway, there were 2 guys - I think it might have been a dad and his son - and they were filling their trunk bed with pumpkins. We were parked on this country road taking photos and they stopped to chat. Then, he invited us to follow them to "his place" to see more pumpkins. We decided to follow, even though we thought he meant his house. I figured we could stay in the car and get some more photos. We were surprised that "his place" was actually a pumpkin farm/corn maze that was open to visitors!
On the weekends, they even take rides out into the pumpkin patch to "pick your own pumpkin." Unfortunately, it wasn't the weekend. We enjoyed walking around inside the barn where they had so many different kinds of pumpkins! I think he said there were over 70 varieties!!! We bought a dried gourd, but we ended up not being able to take it home - it just took up too much room.
We also went through this corn maze. It was SO big! And, the corn was SO high. We walked and walked and finally decided to head back to the beginning. Thankfully, my sil has a much better sense of direction than I do. Otherwise, we might still be wandering around in the corn...
We saw quite a bit of evidence that the deer were enjoying the corn, too... including these hoof prints in the mud.
An ear of corn... the corn stood maybe 10 foot high. I knew there was no way I could see over it, but I thought if we let Alex stand on one of our shoulders, she might be able to see which way to go. But, thankfully, we didn't have to resort to that. :-)
Alex, me, my mil, and baby H in the corn maze. All week, we had to deal with winter-like temperatures. Here in Texas, we are still in the 80's and just getting into the 70's. In Iowa & Wisconsin, we dealing with temps mostly in the 40's (sometimes low 50's) and then in the 30's at night. Brr!
This was the first year in many that we haven't been to a pumpkin patch. I kind of miss it, but we were just too darned busy this year.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm sorry, but that corn maze causes trembles of fear in me... all the way here in Virginia. They scare me to death.
I'm so glad you made it out alive!....LOL!
That just looks like fun! I know what you mean about "pumpkin patches" Here they are just a bunch of pumpkins already picked from the vine and stacked. What great luck to run into someone who has their own "real" pumpkin farm!
ReplyDelete