Sunday, November 1, 2009

Butler's Orchard Pumpkin Patch

Happy November to you! We hope you had a nice Halloween and are enjoying the extra hour of sleep that the "end of daylight savings time fairy" brought today. If you're feeling festive for Fall, take a trip out to Butler's Orchard to pick your own pumpkin to decorate your Thanksgiving table, take a hayride, shop at the farm market for seasonal goodies, or pick your own produce (more on that here).

Last weekend we headed out to Butler's to pick our Halloween pumpkins. If you're looking for a peaceful walk in the pumpkin patch, I don't suggest the Sunday afternoon before Halloween. It was packed! There were pumpkin pickers everywhere, but Butler's handled the crowds well with plenty of parking. Even the long line to purchase pumpkins went quickly.

We had a great time wandering the field looking for pumpkins and soaking up the scene. There were babies dressed as pumpkins, kids scrambling to find the perfect gourd, and parents trying to capture the whole thing on camera. The selection was a bit picked over because it was so close to Halloween, but that was just fine for me because I love the odd, "special" looking pumpkins. I highly recommend Butler's during any season for a refreshing taste of the outdoors.

Second Thoughts From B

Have we mentioned we're from Southern California? Oh yes, all the time... Anyway, fall colors and accessibility to farms are not things we're used to. A trip to Butler's provides just that. You certainly could find a similar selection of pumpkins at equal, if not better, prices at your local grocery store ($0.59/lb). And to be honest, our pumpkins, while cool to look at, were duds. They grew mold before we had time to carve them just 5 days later. But even so, it was the experience that makes this trip.

It is difficult to adequately describe the wholesome and simple pleasure of wandering a field with young families searching for the perfect (or in J's case, least perfect) gourd. The soft afternoon light and squeals of little kids seemed to perfectly frame the moment and bring me back to a simpler time. That's why we go to Butler's. Sure the produce is great but it is the ability escape the city, if only for a moment, and make life slow down. It is like our own little time warp located just a few miles away. So in the spirit of Halloween, "Let's do the time warp, again!!!"

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