Crow Creek Pumpkin Patch

Most of you know that I have been working as a substitute teacher at Jasper Elementary School until God decides to fill me in on my future place of employment. About 90% of the time I work in the special education class. Is it my calling in life? No way...neither is 3rd grade or teaching elementary school music (anyone who knows me KNOWS I can't carry a tune in a bucket) but it gives me something to do and it doesn't take up weekends or holidays. I have discovered that I like special ed way better than subing in a regular classroom. The student to teacher ratio is way lower....about 12 students, 1 teacher, and 3 aids. The chances of surviving the day in one piece are way higher and I am smart enough to appreciate that. Sometimes I sub for the teacher and sometimes I sub for an aid. It gets chaotic and messy and frustrating sometimes but it doesn't really bother me....just another day in the life of CDC. If you go into any classroom expecting anything less you're asking for punishment.

A few weeks ago it was their turn to head to Alabama for a visit to Crow Creek Pumpkin Patch. We took our elementary school kids, the middle school and high school special ed classes, and the students from Whitwell, TN (yes, those eyes in the back of my head came in handy). When we arrived they loaded us on wagons and gave us a tour of the farm. Besides pumpkins they also grow cabbage and some other stuff. When we reached the back of the farm where the pumpkin patch is we let the kids out, paired them each with an adult, and sent them off to choose their own pumpkins. The only rule was that you had to be able to carry whatever you picked out. Because we've had a REALLY wet autumn...most of the pumpkins had rotted in the fields so the farm owners shipped pumpkins in from elsewhere and scattered them around for kids to find...sort of like hunting really big Easter eggs. After all the pretty pumpkins were chosen, we climbed back in our wagons and made our way to the petting zoo. They had a goat, miniature pony, chickens, and some other smelly animals in too-small pens.

The kids really liked it and they must have completely lost their sense of smell beforehand because it was NASTY. Purell hand sanitizer became mandatory after that because lunch was next on our list. We made our way to the picnic tables only to discover that they were all in use. So we made the best of it and let them all take off their shoes and jump in the corn pit. Yes, you read that right...the pumpkin patch has a 3 ft deep pit of shelled corn, complete with decking around the sides and a slide. I'm pretty sure we could have skipped everything else we did and gone straight for the corn. It was their favorite part and made me extremely nervous. There is no way that can be sanitary or safe. I kept waiting for someone to start bleeding or screaming. It just seems to me that small, hard, pellet-like objects that are easily thrown, swallowed, or stuck in bodily orifices is a bad idea. But what do I know?...I don't have any kids remember. Anyway, we found corn in the classroom for days afterwards and I was real tired of saying "Stop throwing corn!" by the time lunch rolled around. After getting all the shoes on the correct feet we set them down for lunch....they ate at lightning speed or didn't eat at all because of that silly corn pit. As soon as they were done they dove back in. We let them play until the bus came to pick us up and then it was back home to Tennessee. We wore them out pretty good....a couple fell asleep on the way home.

Picking our pumpkins. Isn't that view amazing? The day was just perfect!

Nikki...my pumpkin pickin' partner. There were just way too many choices.

The smelliest goat....ever. N-A-S-T-Y.

The corn pit! Excited does not begin to describe their reaction. There is a smaller (not pictured) corn pit to the left....it was all the same to me.

This sign did NOTHING to stop the corn projectiles. A bull horn or speaker system with a looped "PUT THAT CORN DOWN! ITS ALL FUN AND GAMES UNTIL SOMEONE GETS AN EYE OUT!" would have been much more effective.

Okay, so even though I don't relish jumping in a pit of corn as an adult I probably would have thought it was awesome when I was a kid. Will I let my kids do it?....probably. I'll just have 911 on speed dial - just in case.

I hope you get to do something this week that makes you laugh and play as hard as they did at Crow Creek!

Mandy