Pumpkin Patch at Vossler Farms in Visalia, California

It’s Tessa’s second Halloween, which means the tradition of picking out the perfect pumpkin at a bona fide pumpkin patch is actually somewhat relevant to our starry eyed, grab all da things mini-toddler!

Last year when we were living in the South, for Tessa’s very first Halloween we visited Holland Farms in Milton, Florida (click here to read all about it!). While the farm peddled pumpkins during the fall, it was primarily a peanut farm, so we got to try the Southern delicacy of boiled peanuts for the very first time, straight from the boiling vats of the peanut farm. (They taste kind of like an overcooked pinto bean. I still don’t know if I love them or hate them. Tricksy Southern peanuts.)

At the time, Tessa was but a wee thing (only 4 weeks old) and she was at that sleep / poop / burp up / repeat all the time stage. So while we did our parental duty in finding her the most country hijinks riddled pumpkin patch within a 50 mile radius of our home she just mostly… slept. Lol!

THIS YEAR, however, she was a pumpkin chasing fiend!

We decided to make Vossler Farms Pumpkin Patch in Visalia our go to Halloween-time memory building haunt while we’re living in the Central Valley. Not only are they well established in the community (they are celebrating their 15th year this Halloween season) but they actually put in the extra effort to make it a family friendly attraction, with tons of photo ops.. it’s not just a shopping stop, like many of the other local “patches” which are only a slight step up from your typical grocery store pumpkin bin in the parking lot.

Jonathan and I discovered Vossler Farms when we were dating, and we love going on their famous 10 acre corn maze. So when we were discussing taking Tessa to pick out her Halloween pumpkin, this place just seemed like a no-brainer. (Also, they have a military discount, wink wink nudge nudge to you military fams.)

As far as a frugal family outing goes, Vossler Farms has extremely reasonable prices on pumpkins, with lots of varieties. They’ve got your warty and delightfully fugly pumkins, the giant put-your-kid-in-them monster pumpkins, the teeny tiny Tessa sized ones, along with your average all American carving pumpkins. Also, there are lots of sunflowers sprinkled throughout the field, so the tangle of pumpkin vines underfoot seem like a postcard perfect autumn wonderland, and less like a field of gourds in the middle of the Central Valley. Which, trust me, is very much a win.

Oh! And once you get into the pumpkin patch, they have tons of these adorable little carts that you can use to cart your pumpkins and little ones around. Tessa was absolutely infatuated with the carts. She wanted to pull the cart about as much as she wanted to ride around in it. We actually spent more time fiddling around with the cart than we spent looking for, ya know, pumpkins. Haha!

Anyhoo, at the end of the day, my little pumpkin had a blast. She was trying to pick up every pumpkin in sight.. including the ones five times her size. She would find the big flat pumpkins and sit on them, gently rocking back and forth.. when we tried to pick her up she would fuss if we were taking her away from her pumpkins. Seriously, I’ve birthed a little nut. I can’t wait to see what our Halloween pumpkin hunting photos look like next year!