Where to find The Great Pumpkin

By Catherine Amos

Published: October 4, 2008

The air is crisp, the leaves are beginning to change and scores of gourds can be found throughout the area as residents prepare for autumn holidays.

Whether you’re looking for a pumpkin to carve or you want to take an afternoon hayride with the family, October’s arrival brings with it a handful of pumpkin patches and activities to usher in the month’s ghoulish gathering day.

Here in town, residents can shop for potential jack-o-lanterns at the Culpeper Pumpkin Patch on Rt. 229. The pumpkin patch was held at the Farmer’s Co-op the last two years, but because of road construction, Priscilla Coxsey and her husband have set up their orange and white pumpkins and burgundy and yellow mums at the old Aberdeen Nursery.

“We look for places like this, so it was nice to find someplace local,” said visitor Diana Dyer as her kids jumped on the moon bounces. “It looked cute and they love this kind of stuff.”

The weathered, flaking white gazebo surrounded by hay bales and pumpkins adds a spooky quality to the otherwise friendly atmosphere, where parents can browse fall produce and kids can run and squeal and bounce around.

“I wanted something in Culpeper for people to go close by,” Coxsey said. “It’s fun for me, too, because I see the little kids’ faces and they’re so excited.”

Coxsey, who was born and raised on a farm in Rixeyville, especially wanted to give her 13-year-old son a place to get pumpkins in town other than the big box stores.

“I always enjoyed going out and getting pumpkins (as a kid),” she said. “That kind of atmosphere is kind of leaving Culpeper and I just wanted to bring that back.”

North of town in Jeffersonton sits Owsberry Farm, where pumpkin lovers can choose from a selection of homegrown gourds on weekends this month. Owners Terry Owsley and his wife, Lee, built their house about three years ago on the land his parents owned, where they grow pumpkins and gourds as a hobby. This is their second year hosting a pumpkin patch.

This year, however, Owsley’s pumpkin crop was plagued with the squash beetle and sustained some damage, so he brought in additional pumpkins to supplement several hundred of his own. After sifting the good ones from the bad, he mowed the vines down and scattered the pumpkins back in the field for the picking.

“I like working outside and growing things,” Owsley said. “It’s very satisfying. It’s kind of a mysterious process really; you put the seed in the ground and you don’t know what’s going to happen.”

After choosing a pumpkin, visitors can enjoy an afternoon hayride with cookies and cider as they catch up with friends.

“We were really surprised last year,” Owsley said. “It wound up being a big social community event. It was really a lot of fun in that regard.”

Hosting a public Halloween event in the coming weeks? Contact Catherine Amos at 825-0771 ext. 138 or .

Area patches
Culpeper Pumpkin Patch
15172 Brandy Road (old Aberdeen Nursery on Rt. 229)
727-1027
Open Sunday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Friday and Saturday 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Cost for moon bounces: $3 for kids 3 and younger, $7 for kids older than 3

Owsberry Farm
5208 Myers Mill Road in Jeffersonton
937-7091
Open weekends through end of October or until sold out: Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sunday 1 to 6 p.m.
Hayrides available.
Visit OwsberryFarm.com

Round Hill Farm
6347 Everona Road in Orange
854-7398
Open weekends 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Halloween
Cost is $2.50.
Visit round-hill-farm.com

Halloween at Rikki’s Refuge
10910 Barr Lane in Orange
Oct. 19 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Wear a costume and trick or treat with the Animals at Rikki’s Refuge Animal Sanctuary. Admission is two or more cans of cat or dog food per person.
Visit RikkisRefuge.org or call 854-0870 ext. 2.