Pumpkin Picking in Peterborough

Try saying that when you've had a tipple.....

Well as you may have guessed from the title we did in fact go pumpkin picking this weekend.  A first for the Hill family and for a change the entire family all went together, even the grumpy teenager and maybe even grumpier mother.  Some of us where more prepared than others, to the extent that wellingtons where brought with, even though teenage daughter decided she didn't actually need them (she did, she really really did). As the last pair of wellies other half owned, accidentally ended up in the bin somehow (I have no idea, honest) he had to face the muddy fields in his trainers, bright white Nikes. Not a prospect he relished but he managed to put a brave face on it and forge on (will be purchasing new wellies asap).  The farm was set over 14 acres of land with a small orchard with plum, apples and pear trees.  A small area filled with sweetcorn and rows of raspberries and blackberries.  The kids made a half heart attempt to pick the fruit but it is a bit late in the season and so the plums left on the trees where quite high up (cue daddy pulling branches down for little arms and hands to reach) and the berry bushes had either been picked dry by the crows or had shrivelled up little bunches of yuck on them.  We weren't there for this petty distractions though, we and the few other families that arrived as we did where there for the main event, the big show, the massive veg. 

So once the troop was gathered back together from their various foraging or in Humf's case, shouted at to get off the tire swing for the 15th time. We headed over to the pumpkin patch, and yes that is exactly what it is, a patch of land with various sized pumpkins just lying on ground waiting to be picked.

Daddy and Humf where on wheel barrow duty which was working out fine until Humf decided he could "manage" himself, think, up turned wheelbarrow immediately.  Then when we finally got down to the pumpkin patch the kids got pretty freaked out by the scarecrow, it was a shop floor mannequin with the most realistic eyes I have ever seen..even had veins running through them.!!! So once recovered from the scare from the scarecrow the kids all wandered off to pick their special pumpkin.  While Daddy and I looked on not really wanting to enter the quagmire, chatting away, Daddy notices Humf out of the corner of his eye and as I look round at what he's staring out, I see Humf pulling up his trousers...yes, he'd just wee'd in the pumpkin patch...nice !!  After this little episode, we hurriedly got the kids to choose their pumpkins and promptly wheel barrowed them back to the till in the hut, where we priced our pumpkins by their size.  Do they fit in the hole £1.50 £2.25 £3.50 up to £9 of course all our pumpkins where too big for the cheaper hole but not quite big enough for the more expensive ones but of course we had to pay the more expensive price anyway.  £20 on pumpkins !!! I so need to use these for food not just for Halloween faces, so shall be probably blogging later on in the month about all these fantastic pumpkin recipes I have found and we have all tried. Defiantly going to roast those seeds though, they are a serious yummy treat :-) 

Just call me "The Grinch" and a "Bah Humbug" to you

Is it possible to be sick of Christmas already....I feel like the build up started back in July when I received my first Studio Christmas catalogue and one of my good friends started counting down in days.

Don't get me wrong I love the time of year its truly my favourite, apart from springtime blossom or long hot summer days anyway you get my drift. Its just that as I am getting older the time is flying by at warp speed anyway and having all the marketeers trying to rush through to the next big thing is just making it worse. The kids birthdays are in October and they barely get through to the end of the day before they are asking for some toy been advertised on CartoonNetwork for Christmas.

When I was little, the summer holidays finished it was harvest festival time, something the school made us sing alot about and I never really understood it. Then came Guy Fawkes, November the 5th. Fireworks night was massive in the calendar, every year the school made us do some kind of project on Mr Fawkes history. I was consumed with worry as to what my guy was going to be stuffed with and whose clothes I could "borrow" to make it with. Christmas was a distant event in the far future and there were much more immediate and pressing concerns to think about, like how many pairs of gloves to be worn on the NIGHT and should I stay at home or go to a display. The advertisers seem to have knocked the wind out of these events consuming our minds with the 25th of December. Even poor Halloween making a brave attempted to bring Autumn back its own festivals is struggling against the onslaught of the mighty Christmas promotions.

So this year, I'm going to try and not mention the C word until at least the last week November and we are going to enjoy our Halloween party and our local town fireworks display, Christmas can just get back into its proper Winter place.