Every year, we try to hit up at least 3 pumpkin patches in the month of October. I know. It sounds crazy, but trust me, it's a ton of fun.
So far, we've gone to the Adobe Pumpkin Farm and Peterson's Farm in Petaluma. Both farms are fun in their own special ways. Below you can read my breakdown of each farm experience.
Adobe Pumpkin Farm
2478 E Washington Street
Petaluma, CA 94954-3903
Map
We discovered this farm three years ago on accident. This location brags of having 30 acres worth of fun, which is no joke. This has been one of the few pumpkin patch places that I've been to where I didn't feel crowded. On some weekends, it can boast over 100+ guests, and you wouldn't even notice. This large piece of land allows great flexibility for your family to have a lot of fun without pushing through crowds. What's neat about this place is that they have a variety of pumpkins to choose from. They not only offer your traditional orange pumpkins, but an array of multi colored gourds of all shapes and sizes, as shown in the pic below.
This place is not shy of things to do. They've got jumpy houses, haunted house, farmer's market stand, corn maze, hay maze, climbing wall, hay ride, train ride, antique farm equipment demonstration, live music sung by a guy dressed as a scarecrow, the pumpkin fairy appears, farm animals to pet, a handful of vendors selling food, halloween craft store, and oddly enough, a christmas craft store. This place has set up lots of fun photo opportunities for your whole family. They even have a professional photographer on-sight who takes professional photos at a price. Here is a pic of my niece on one of the many "photo opp" spots throughout the 30 acres.
My son's favorite thing to do there is to check out all the farm equipment. I don't know what it is about boys and equipment, but he's completely fascinated by it. They do a live demonstration of how the antique farm equipment work and how they were used "back in the day." Here's a pic of my son, three years ago, enjoying the demonstration.
The prices of the pumpkins are reasonable. They range from $2-$20 depending on the sizes. The food there can be on the pricier side. Lunch for one person can cost $6-8. There doesn't seem to be a restriction on bringing your own food. They even have some picnic tables set up under a straw canopy. The straw canopy space can also be reserved for parties.
Parking can be great and it can be a pain. I suggest going as early as you can to get the best parking. The overflow parking tends to be across the busy street of Washington, so it's best to park on the property.
Now on to my next review...
Peterson's Farm
636 Gossage Ave.
Petaluma, CA
My son and I visited this farm on a field trip with his preschool. It was a $5 cost for us to take a short tour of the farm, feed the animals, learn about bees and bee keeping, and to take a pumpkin the size of my son's head.
Because we were there on a school tour, we weren't able to fully explore the land the way that the website portrays it to be. Judging from the website, they sell free range eggs, honey, and persimmons. This was not advertised during the tour, so I couldn't tell you if they really sold them or not. The animals that they showed us were cows, horses, chickens, ducks, turkeys, roosters, and rabbits.
This is not one of those places you could spend a whole day at. We were there for a couple hours and it seems we got the full tour of the place. I would recommend it if you were really interested in the bees and the honey.
I hope you found the reviews helpful. Check back this weekend for my review on Lemos Farm in Half Moon Bay.
Happy Pumpkin Hunting!!
Kelly (Contributing Writer and Fellow Santa Rosa Mom)
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