The only pumpkin patch on Oahu is close to us, on a local road between Ewa and Kapolei. It’s a farm that plants lots of pumpkins and opens its fields to the masses every year before Halloween. They let kids of all ages run up and down the rows and pick fresh pumpkins out of the mineral-rich red dirt that covers the ground.
I started my last job about this time two years ago, and my new boss, with kids of her own in elementary school, asked me if I was going to take Robbie to the pumpkin patch.
Each year before Cub came along I’ve actually loaded Robbie in the car, headed down the hill, and driven by the farm. There are no trees or shade, only miles of red dirt and I just couldn’t stop. It looked dirty and hot and dusty and messy. I know, I know, poor excuses for not letting your son have some fun but still I didn’t stop. When my boss heard this, she smiled sympathetically, and proceeded to tell me how she does it. It went something like this: “First you dress in old, dirty clothes and tennis shoes. Pretty much nothing you might want to wear again. Or plastic shoes you can wash. Then you tarp the seats and the floorboards of the car with plastic so your seats and carpets don’t get dirty. But still dust as much dirt off as you can before entering the car. Once home, take off everything before you get in the house.”
So it should be no surprise when I say we still have not gone to the pumpkin patch! And I don’t plan to. But I wanted some sort of pumpkin experience, so I picked up a large pumpkin and three smaller pumpkins at the commissary (.48 cents a pound!). We love them anyway.
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