(U-pick pumpkin poster child.)
Imagine paying $50 for five pumpkins.
Five mid-sized pumpkins… that are not filled with gold and didn’t come served on a silver platter.
Not these bad boys.
These $50 pumpkins were picked in a sandy, dirt-filled patch on an unseasonably warm day by bloody hands that were pierced by the heavy, gourd-like squash’s prickly stem… all in the name of fall family fun.
Clearly, I’ve forgotten how much good ol’ fashion family fun can set a clan back these days.
My family’s annual trip to the u-pick farm cost 50 bucks, but the memories–oh, the memories–well, those were priceless.
Did I mention my bloody hands?
Scratched palms aside, my 7-year-old daughter had a blast during the wholesome rite of fall. We took the 5-minute horse-drawn wagon ride out to the patch, she made like Martha Stewart and painstakingly inspected each pumpkin to make sure it was worthy to sit on our porch, and I made like a sweaty Sherpa hauling the orange orbs back to where the farmer was leaning against his hitch surveying the field full of suburban parents doing his work for him.
Did I mention my bloody hands?
The farmer smiled when I joked that next year I wouldn’t make the mistake of forgetting my gloves at home.
Actually, I wasn’t joking.
Neither was the farmer.
He stood, stared and smiled.
And why shouldn’t he be grinning?
On this gorgeous, 71-degree day his u-pick farm was packed with parents paying handsomely for the privilege of plucking Indian corn from a maze of stalks, pulling pumpkins from a network of thick vines, and pushing their peers out of the way, so they could snap the perfect family photo of their precocious tots perched precariously on top of their overpriced hauls.
I crunched the numbers during the bumpy ride back to the cashier’s stand and came up with a rough estimate. The cost per pound for the pumpkins totaled about a dollar.
So we’re talking $5 for a five-pound pumpkin or about a quarter more than what our local grocery store is charging for the same size pre Jack-o-lantern, minus the blood, sweat and tears.
I take that back, the price of the pumpkins did include access to a hay slide that my daughter loved way more than the wagon ride.
(Hay slide. Priceless.)
Look at that shot. Now, that’s a genuine smile. Which just proves that you can’t put a price tag on family fun.
What’s your take on u-pick pumpkin patches or apple orchards (now that’s some overpriced fruit)? Do you think they are scams or wholesome family venues that help you create seasonal traditions?
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