Fast forward to today. I now have kids of my own and having lived outside of Ukiah for the last 17 years, I became exposed to the concept of agritourism as a business model and most importantly how much fun it could be for the family. Having visited several stellar pumpkin patches with my kids on field trips or just looking for that magical photo to put in a frame to remember the children on their first Halloween, I gained a deeper appreciation for what a community focused event like a pumpkin patch could be like. How it could make a huge positive impact on me and my children’s well being.

Let me digress a moment and tell you about an early childhood memory that I feel has shaped me personally. Back when I was a boy of about 6 years, my neighbor set up a haunted house in their home. You entered from the front porch and wound your way through a tunnel of sorts created with black plastic. Along the way there were little pockets of spookyness. One was a graveyard scene, another a jump scare device outfitted with a mask and overalls. Other areas were tactile or sensory thrills. I know now that the bowl of eyeballs was actually large peeled grapes, and that what I thought was either worms or brains was actually wet pasta.

Ever since that experience, I have always wanted to create a haunted house for the neighbor kids. Halloween has also been my favorite holiday hands down. Perhaps that great experience had something to do with it. I think it may have, and now I want to share that with others.

What’s the point you may be asking. Well when I first pitched the pumpkin patch idea I wanted it to be a spooky haunted pumpkin patch that focused on Halloween. But now that I have little ones less than 2 years old, I know that too much spooky can be frightening and may even ruin the holiday. As a result we have scaled back the Halloween piece and instead plan to focus more on fall and winter as a whole.  But it’s a start and the people I have told about it all seem to love the idea. Not just fake agreeing because they think your crazy, but genuinely interested. Volunteering before I have a fully baked plan kind of interest. That’s really encouraging!

Well, I have rambled for too long. But I will post pictures and updates as things progress.