Shiny Cooking

Every month, Foodbuzz features 24 posts by 24 bloggers showcasing that month’s theme or simply a really cool meal. October’s 24×24 theme is the Kids Table. For my Kids Table meal, I took my sister, 8-year old niece, and 10-year old nephew to Johnson’s Giant Pumpkins, a farm that features lots of neat autumn-themed displays and activities. My post is in the form of a photo essay, so be prepared for a longish load time.

Lots of things to see and do at the pumpkin farm. This native American teepee was a lot bigger on the inside than it looked from the outside!

Lots of traditional tools and handicrafts were on display, and a guy would periodically hold a short seminar describing each one for the kids as they sat on the straw bales that circled the inside of the teepee.

i want a house with a pumpkin roof

I’m sure something got demonstrated in here from time to time, but I have no idea what! All I know is, I want a house with a pumpkin roof.

Approaching the GIANT CORN MAZE.

All granaries should be decorated like this one.

The corn maze was 5 bucks. There was also a soybean maze for little children that was $1. The kids wanted to do that one. Once we got going in the corn maze, we all kind of wished for the nice short (in both meanings of the word!) soybean maze.

children of the corn maze

Entering the corn maze. Keep on truckin’!

Isn’t Sis cute?

Maggie was a little ham all day. Nice pose there, kiddo. Want a 40 ounce to go with that?

The maze is a message, much like the alien script very similar to that of the Ancients that we find in crop circles. It changes every year, and this year it spelled, “THANKS FOR 25 YEARS,” which made sense since the farm turned 25 this year.

Whew! Guess I didn’t have to whip out my book of Stephen King short stories
after all!

A field of giant pumpkins!

No idea how much the squash Maggie’s next to weighs, but that pumpkin Justin is dwarfed by is 430 pounds. Do they suck up 430 pounds of water through the season? Is it all water weight? Does it need a diuretic?

mmm, forbidden donut

Time for some food for bellies. Squash and pumpkin needs preparation. Donuts and cider, on the other hand, were just sitting there begging to be bought and eaten. Freshly made and glazed and sprinkled, donuts hit the freaking spot when it’s like 50 degrees out.

Mmm, forbidden donut…. *drool*

There was one tame goose wandering the grounds. Just one. Don’t ask me why. The goose wasn’t talking.

I can’t resist cutout head displays. I always force people into them. They always do as I say.

but do they have any produce? why, yes!

All the Indian corn you could ever want!

The mini ears were so gosh darn purty.

Who knew there were so many shades of orange?

Lots of unique varieties of squash for sale.

Including some freaky red acorn-butt squash!

Let’s just reiterate how many pumpkins, squash, and gourds are at Johnson’s.

Lots of homemade candy for sale in whimsical, fall, and Halloween-themed shapes. And my lazy-ass favorite, hulled pumpkin seeds. YESSSSSS.

chainsaw woodcarving makes everything better

Okay, now this is more like it. Chainsaw woodcarving.

a trebuchet makes everything even more better

And it just keeps getting better. A trebuchet. A trebuchet.

Yes, it’s for flinging giant pumpkins. They go 500 to over 1,000 feet. The biggest one they’ve trebucheted (yes, I made that word up, you wanna make something of it?) was over 400 pounds.

Check it out.

Ew. Pumpkin guts.

And on the way out, we had to sample and buy some kettle corn freshly made on the premises. You know, I’m not normally a fan of kettle corn but this was some good stuff.

Our day at Johnson’s Giant Pumpkins was a great time, in spite of the blustery, chilly weather. I was frankly surprised at having fun given that it was so kid-oriented. But there was no way not to have fun once we realized there were trebuchets involved. I highly recommend taking rugrats out to an orchard or pumpkin farm like this. It tires them out real good like.

9 comments  print this post  email this post

subscribe to comments