So this is my third post about Perry’s Pumpkin Patch in the history of this blog. My son’s preschool class had a little field trip to the pumpkin patch today, and now I finally have some information about those tractor rides!
For $3 per person (children 1 and under are free), you can take a tractor ride around the farm. Along the way, the tractor driver will stop at various points to tell you about the produce that they grow and sell there. There’s a little farmstand where you can purchase their organic produce; they also sell their produce at the Sunday farmer’s market in Newark. So during our tractor ride, they showed us all of their different types of cauliflower (regular, Romanesco, purple, and a yellow cauliflower), their green beans, and different types of lettuce. (Throughout the growing season, they have lots of different produce, including tomatoes. See the list here.
So more about the tractor ride. I’m not sure what I was envisioning. I suppose I thought there would be bales of hay or something to sit on. But nope, there weren’t. There was just a trailer covered with straw, and you just plop down in the straw in rustic fashion. Needless to say, it’s not all that comfortable, especially when toting a baby in an Ergo and having a toddler insist on sitting in your lap and trying to ensure that said toddler does not squish the baby. But then again, tractor rides aren’t meant to be all that comfortable.
If you’re squeamish about bugs and spiders, you might want to sit in the middle of the tractor rather on the sides, where you can see the bugs crawl up the sides of the tractor. It was’t *crawling* with bugs, but we certainly saw some tiny little spiders and a pair of mating green ladybugs. I don’t particularly like bugs, but I got over it quickly, chalking it up to the whole farm-y experience.
My almost-3-yr-old (who is obsessed with vehicles of all sorts) loved the tractor ride and wanted to go back. It really was quite the hit with the children.
The pumpkin patch also has a port-a-potty station with a handwashing station.
Pumpkin patch is open Mondays to Sundays from 9am to 7pm.