By Kate Nanavati

On a pleasant fall day a few weeks ago, my friends Adriana King (’25) Grace Moerner (’25), and I decided to take a trip to a pumpkin patch as a festive fall activity. When deciding where to go, I found Lloyd Family Farms. 

Lloyd Family Farms is a farm in Goochland County, only 25 minutes from Collegiate. Although labeled as a pumpkin patch, the title is limiting. In addition to a field filled with various shapes, sizes, and colors of pumpkins and gourds, the farm has many activities suited to children. Some activities include a sizeable pit of corn, face painting, a strangely small and rusted playground, horse stables, food trucks, a hay bail fortress with slides, pony rides, and a towering corn maze.

When we arrived, we were greeted by the smell of muddy puddles and hay. We made our way across the damp grass parking lot to the ticket stand. An unstable-looking shed stood with a large sign posted that read “Pumpkin Patch Tickets” in orange lettering. When it was our turn to buy our tickets, we paid $12 each and made our way to the hayride. Once the trailer was full, the tractor roughly began to inch forward. Once we made the two-minute trip across the dirt path to the activities, the chaos was apparent. Kids ran around screaming, and parents chased after them. King described that she enjoyed “how it felt like a very innocent environment” and a refreshing change in pace from our everyday lives.

In the corn crib.

We made our first stop to grab a bite to eat. A white tent covered the food stand. A minimal menu, painted on a wooden board, rested against a white plastic table that listed typical American delicacies, including hamburgers, hotdogs, chicken tenders, Brunswick stew, corn dogs, and pulled pork sandwiches. Since it was a brisk fall day, we ordered a pint of Brunswick stew to share. The steaming broth warmed us up immediately. The shredded chicken was tender, and the corn and beans soaked up the flavorful spices cooked into the stew. It was delicious.

The activities were plentiful. They were centered on entertaining young children; however, we did not hesitate to participate. We took a stroll to the “Corn crib,” an area rimmed with hay bails filled with corn kernels, and Moerner threw her shoes off and hopped in. She quickly regretted her decision, because as she jumped in, a cloud of corn dust and dirt rose up, causing her to hecticly dig her way back to the edge through multitudes of corn and out of the pit. 

Making our way through the corn maze.

The next stop was the towering corn maze and hay bale castle. We made our way through a tunnel made of large round and square hay bales to what seemed like a hay fortress acting as a jungle gym for little kids. Parents stood on the ground and cautiously watched their kids jump from bale to bale. After pondering for a minute or two if it was worth getting on top of bales only a couple of feet taller than us, we made our climb to the top. I slowly lined the perimeter of the castle, hopping from bale to bale, while Moerner and King followed, making sure not to knock over any children. I stopped at a pipe slide that seemed adequate and tried to slide down. I ended up inching my way down and struggling to get out at the bottom, as the opening was too small for me to just normally stand up out of it. This concluded with our leggings being covered in hay and mud. It was not worth it.

We then made our way over to the corn maze. Disappointed from our last activity, I hoped this would redeem my amusement. The towering stalks of corn formed a small pathway labeled “Entrance.” We made our way through the maze, getting stuck in its dead ends a few times, dodging kids sprinting after each other, and stepping over puddles. Although the maze looked like it would take a long time to complete, we made it to the exit in only ten minutes with a sense of fulfillment.

Finally, the main event of the day. We loaded ourselves back onto the hayride, but this time our destination was the pumpkin patch. As we stepped off, we looked around to find the areas where the least amount of people were. We wanted the most superior pumpkins, the ones that hadn’t been picked through by previous visitors. We trekked through the mediocre pumpkins and then found a group of perfectly round, orange pumpkins. I ripped two of them off the vines. King and Moerner both grabbed one each as well. When making our back, Moerner found a watermelon gourd and added it to her collection. The walk back was difficult, as I had two medium-sized pumpkins in each arm. So when we made it back to the dirt road, I was relieved to set them down. We took our last hayride back to the entrance and checked out. The pumpkins were $0.75 per pound, rounding my total up to $21.00. 

The pumpkin patch at Lloyd Family Farms.

The day was successful. Not only did I get my family’s fall and Halloween decorations, but I had an enjoyable time. Moerner remarked that she “felt happy and like a kid again” during the trip. It was the perfect fall activity to do with friends. Lloyd Family Farms’ pumpkin patch is much better than the others I have been to. The chaotic, festive, charming vibe of the farm made for an overall pleasant experience. 

All photos by Kate Nanavati.