Getting local: pumpkins and sweet corn

Yesterday, the family drove out to a local farm for a day of harvest festivities. Initially, I wasn't quite sure where to go since there are so many pumpkin patches around here, so I fired up the handy farm finder tool on Puget Sound Fresh (damn, the people that work on that website are brilliant, I tell you!). Using the search tool, I narrowed it down to a couple of farms, but was mostly intrigued by the one we went to because they are still selling corn.

This farm in Snohomish staggers the plantings so there is still corn being picked fresh through the end of October. So, when some farms are hitting the dregs by about now, they are still cranking along. And I haven't gotten my corn preserving fix in for the year yet. It's cheaper to buy it in season and preserve it now than buying it frozen later in the year. We are lucky to have lots of local frozen vegetables available year round, but I like to do it myself.

Anyway, the day consisted of picking pumpkins from a pumpkin patch, hayrides, corn mazes, pumpkin carving and eating the most fantastic almond butter toffee popcorn and some other puffed corn treat that has something addictive in it that makes you crave it fortnightly. All made on the farm.

On Saturdays in October they also have a blacksmith doing some forging, which I would have liked to have seen, but since we went on Sunday, he wasn't there. But, the family farm dog was there, snurfling around, looking for food and it was fun to watch the farmer's kids run in and out of their farmhouse. I'm always delighted that local farmers are willing to open up their homes and property to us city people and get a chance to spend the day on their farm.

I did pick up a bunch of freshly picked sweet corn that I'll grill (with olive oil and salt), cut off the cob and freeze. I did this last year and it was, by far, my favorite method of preserving the season's harvest. (See my post, Freezing Corn: preservation methods compared for a run-down.) There's nothing quite like digging into the smokey sweet flavors of roasted corn in the middle of January.

Here are some pictures from the day for your viewing pleasure (click on the pictures for a bigger view):

Henry taking a break from picking out pumpkins:


The elusive Mr. Crunchy and our pumpkins:


One of the pumpkin carvings:


Emma, the Corn Queen. I like the way the blue sky and clouds are reflected in her sunglasses:


Explaining to the kids how corn grows along the stalks. It's been a couple years since we've grown corn in the backyard and, apparently, they've forgotten how it "works":


I tell ya, that corn maze map was critical:


Here's an aerial picture of the corn maze. The structure on the bottom right is the Space Needle with mountains and a ferry to the left. The O's in the maze are big fire pits where they have bonfires during the night corn maze:


All in all, we had a great time. I'm glad we finally had the opportunity to go pick our own pumpkins this year. We couldn't go the last two Halloweens because my husband was either just out of the hospital, or post-transplant. And, like the farm's motto, taking your kids out to a farm to see where their food comes from is "where family memories grow." If you haven't taken your kids out to the farm this fall, get to it!