All throughout my childhood, fall meant an annual trip to the local pumpkin patch. My favorite fall memories are filled with muddy fields, hot apple cider, tractor rides, and being pulled around in a wagon until it was filled with pumpkins and I was forced to walk. I remember scouring the pumpkin patch for the perfect pumpkin, with the perfect stem, that would make the perfect Jack-O’-Lantern when I carved it out that evening.
This tradition ended sometime around late middle school or early highschool for me, when my siblings and I got busier, and the pumpkin patch nearest our hometown closed down. Since coming to college, I’ve been saying every fall that I want to find a pumpkin patch and rediscover that autumn magic that really doesn’t exist anywhere else. And yet I somehow found myself in my last year of college without having made that happen. This year I was determined, and over the weekend, my friends and I took a day trip to Fall City, Washington to visit the Fall City Farms Pumpkin Patch.
Fall City (an apt name for this adventure) was about 45 minutes east of Seattle. Once we got out of the city and off the highway, the drive was breathtakingly scenic. The fall colors were on vibrant display and the town was cozy, while a bit of a fog made the whole thing feel like a scene out of a Hallmark movie.
Our first stop was this adorable coffee shop, Aroma Coffee Co. From the outside it looked like a perfect little cottage, while the interior was filled with Harry Potter decor. Overall, it was the perfect atmosphere to start the day with an apple cider. After we got our drinks (which were delicious), we walked about a block down the street to the Fall City vintage flea market, which was filled with collectibles, trinkets, and fall decor. If you’re used to vintage shopping in Seattle, you’ll likely be as flabbergasted as we were with the reasonable prices. With an air of fall whimsy undeniably established, we then made our way to Fall City Farms.
I can confidently say that the pumpkin patch experience I had here did not disappoint. The first lovely part of the experience was that it was free. We love that. While a bit of a drizzle started soon after we got there, it was surprisingly warm for a late October day. We grabbed a wagon and headed off towards the fields. I felt like a kid again, trudging through the mud in my boots, dragging a green wagon behind me, up and down the rows of variously shaped and sized orange squashes. I meandered, picking up and putting down a few pumpkins until I found the one: a gorgeous, mid-to larger size, perfectly round, wonderfully orange pumpkin.
After we each picked a pumpkin sufficient for our carving objectives, we wheeled them up to wash them off at the wash station before taking them to the barn to weigh and pay. Each pumpkin cost $0.60 per pound, which meant that even the largest pumpkin in our group (a solid 24 pounds) was under $15. Pumpkins in tow, we took our time and perused the various jams and drinks for sale in the barn. There were also multiple food trucks as well as a stand selling mini donuts and hot apple cider. (The $2 cups of cider made me question my cider purchase earlier in the day, but I choose to live with no regrets.)
I left Fall City Farms with my heart full and my inner child smiling from ear to ear. It can sometimes be hard when the weather starts to get colder and the days start to get shorter, but my pumpkin patch excursion reminded me of all the things that make the fall season so wonderful. If you too are seeking the perfect fall experience, I can’t recommend a trip to Fall City Farms enough.