The Pumpkin Patch

After endless days of near record-breaking temperatures throughout September, and even into October, it seemed like fall would never really arrive this year.  At last, the leaves on the trees are beginning to change from green to gold, and there's a little nip in the air in the evenings.  A cool breeze swirls through the few skittering leaves that have fallen to the ground.  Finally, summer's shorts and tank tops and flip flops have morphed into jeans and long sleeves, shoes and socks.  It's pumpkin picking time!
 

Every October, we take our preschoolers to the Adams Family Pumpkin Patch, located just east of Scottsbluff.  For many children, this first field trip of the school year marks their first ride on a big yellow school bus.  For many, the two mile bus ride is the best part of the trip.  

The kids are so excited about riding on the bus that they just can't sit still.  Wiggling and giggling, three to a seat, chattering children crane their necks to see out the windows.  Teachers remind kids to sit down and sit still.  The bus is quiet only when it stops for a railroad crossing, when the bus driver opens the door to listen for a train, and the passengers hold their breath together, waiting for the bus to continue on its way to the Pumpkin Patch.

Then, all of a sudden, we're there.  The children in the back of the bus wait impatiently for their classmates in the front to carefully climb down the steps of the bus, onto the ground, and into the field of ripe, orange pumpkins just waiting to be picked.  Pumpkin Patch rules state that each child may purchase only one pumpkin for a dollar, and that the pumpkin must be one that the child can get back to the bus with minimal assistance.  Some kids pick the first pumpkin they see, while others dart from one pumpkin to the next, searching for the perfect prize.  At least one child trips over a pumpkin vine, sprawls face down in the dirt, and jumps back up, still eager to find his pumpkin.  Some children choose small round pumpkins, the perfect size to carry back to the waiting bus.  Some choose soft pumpkins or green ones, or pumpkins with holes chewed into them by the resident mice, only to be told to make another, better choice.  Other kids choose pumpkins that weigh almost as much as they do, pumpkins that must be lugged back to the bus in fits and starts, dropping to the ground from time to time, only to be picked up again by the determined child who insists that he has chosen the biggest and best pumpkin of all.  Occasionally, an innovative child will roll a pumpkin across the rutted ground to the bus.  Helpful teachers and parents write names on the bottom of each pumpkin.  Pictures are taken; then the pumpkins are piled into the luggage compartments that magically open on the sides of the bus.

Town kids glance warily at the huge farm dogs that, mercifully, stay close to the house.  Some complain about the wind that blows dust into their eyes and mouth.  Others fuss about the sand burrs that stick on their socks and pant legs, and even on their pumpkins.  A few children comment about the cattle in the nearby corral, and notice the John Deere tractors and combines that are waiting to harvest the cornfield that butts up to the Pumpkin Patch.  The whole Pumpkin Patch experience takes twenty or thirty minutes, at the most, then everyone climbs back on the bus.  The bus driver hands an envelope of money out the window to Mrs. Adams, who has walked out to the road to rescue a windblown sign.  Then the bus is on its way again, filled with satisfied children and teachers, and a few adventuresome parents, grandparents, and younger siblings.

Most of the pumpkins go home with the children that same day, ready to be painted or carved into jack-o-lanterns.  Back at school, we talk about the life cycle of the pumpkin.  Throughout the month of October, and even into November, we read countless books and sing lots of songs about pumpkins.  We carve pumpkins, roast and eat the seeds, make a book about our class pumpkin, bake and eat pumpkin pie.  We revel in the experience, learning everything we can about pumpkins, but better yet, we are making memories.