It was about 35°C outside (95°F) when we went pumpkin patch photo shooting back in September in Camarillo, California. Real pumpkin patch, too, with actual “KEEP OUT” signs and all. It wasn’t our intention to raid somebody’s pumpkin field in search of cool photos, but it was our only option given that halloween was still a couple months away at that time.

We actually stumbled upon that field by accident and just decided to pull the car over and take some photos. Emma, however, wasn’t having any of it and didn’t appreciate all the pumpkin awesomeness around her.

Pumpkin season is great in the States. I mean everything around October simply turns orange with a hint of pumpkin spice in the air. Poland’s way behind in that regard. Fall is well under way here, but pumpkins are just barely making a dent in the season. Which is odd because Poland’s climate is perfect for growing pumpkins.

Things have gotten better though. You can now find pumpkins readily available at all major markets, and I even saw some dressed up pumpkins at the local Tesco. I know that Poland doesn’t celebrate halloween, and that the Catholic church in Poland absolutely hates the idea of its limelight stolen by a bunch of dressed up kids looking for candy, but it’s still cool to see kids’ creativity and smiles once they get their pumpkin carved.

We hosted our first pumpkin carving last weekend with Ania’s niece and nephew. Both carved a pumpkin for their first time. And both really really liked it. I carved mine, too, with a friendly ghostly BOO!
Note: please know that despite what you see on these photos, we did keep knives away from children’s hands at all times and did all the heavy carving for them.