Of course that wasn't enough, so I told Joseph we needed to find a pumpkin patch in the area. I did some research, Joseph asked around, and everyone kept recommending a certain pumpkin patch in Julian. So, come Saturday we made the trek up there with one of our friends from Des Moines who just recently moved here. The drive was nice but it took about 1 1/2 to get there.
This was their version of a pumpkin patch:
To me, it looked some one's backyard in Iowa. Seriously? (I thought & probably complained about for the entire time) It was a nice attempt but nothing compared to what we're used to. It was enough to "cure" or maybe intensify my homesickness.
I did happen to find a very pretty pumpkin. I usually like to pick the pumpkin directly off the vine myself, but I guess it was fine this time. The pumpkin had a lot of character and pretty coloring. And it only cost $4 :)
This is the pumpkin Joseph chose. It was totally unique. I thought it was perfect!
For some reason they were offering to give you a tour of their farm for $12 which included Cider-Making (hence the Cider House, which was swarmed with bees), Raspberry-Picking (which we walked to and noticed all of the berries were dried), and Candle-Making.
I'm not sure if you are supposed to use rotten apples for cider?? But still a pretty picture!
They even had "Gold Mining" for the kids. A cute idea, I must add.
Not completely satisfied with the pumpkin patch, and having made the drive up, Joseph thought we should go Apple-Picking!
Smile!
The Apple Orchard wasn't too bad overall but still not the typical orchard that we're used to. The people were friendly and told us all about the apples they grew and what works best for different recipes. But all of the apples were picked over and really expensive.
Nothing beats doing Fall Things in Des Moines but I'm glad we tried to do it the California way (even if it didn't meet my expectations) Can't wait to make it back to DSM for Thanksgiving!
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