Off\0x8C of a dirt road approximately \0x91five miles down Alabama Highway 14 is a place where smashing pumpkins isn't the headline band for a grunge concert.
It's a chance for people of all ages to participate in a messy and challenging good time.
On Oct. 4, the Foshee family's Farmer in the Dell Pumpkin Patch opened for its fifth year and will continue to be open from noon-dusk \0x17Thursday-Friday and all day Saturday. \0x17The gate will open every day of the week beginning Oct. 15.
Visitors often come in groups to sift through the vines to pick their own pumpkins for holiday carving with no entry fee.
Last year, more than 800 tour groups, including school groups, birthday parties, sorority and fraternity swaps and families of all sizes tailgated with tents and blankets, took hayrides and enjoyed a corn trough.
Groups can call ahead for tables to be set up so they can bring tools for carving the pumpkins out by the patch and avoid making a mess inside.
Parents and teachers relax on hay bales while students of all ages choose their pumpkins, with younger children choosing from the smallest and older children choosing from the mid-sized pumpkins.
There is also a trebuchet and a smaller slingshot where participants can sling the pumpkin of their choice.
"You can actually feel it in the ground when it shakes," said Mark Foshee.
Fifteen to 20 pound pumpkins of all shapes are available for purchase before being slung 100 yards from the catapult.
"The weirder shaped they are, the weirder they fly through the air; and the more symmetrical, the more evenly they fly," Foshee said.
Customers also really enjoy the chicken pen at the patch, said Hayden Foshee. Micah Fern, a friend of the family, performs a trick for customers where he makes a chicken fall asleep in his hands.
Many student groups make a day out of it by bringing their lunch and rotating activities.
"We have families that come every year, and it's neat to see the children grow up," said Marie Foshee. "We tell the children it's like hunting Easter eggs because you really gotta look for the pumpkins among the vines."
Marie said the family clips a lot of the larger vines and stickers that surround the smaller pumpkins for the smaller children.
22-year-old Luke Foshee attends school in Tennessee and helps with planting the pumpkins and working at the patch during his fall break. He and his brother Mark thought of the idea of the Farmer in the Dell Pumpkin Patch after viewing an episode of the television show "Little People Big World," where the cast sets up a pumpkin patch.
"We wanted to be able to grow things where people could clip them off\0x8C the vines, because usually the pumpkins you buy for the holidays travel from Atlanta," Mark said. "It's cool to show how they grow green and are orange when you buy them."
Last year's biggest pumpkin was 80 pounds, and this year the Foshee boys' goal is to have at least one of their pumpkins reach 100 pounds.
"They always come out there to find the biggest one," Marie said.
Marie also said the family usually grows more than they sell, as not to disappoint any customers toward the end of the season.
Do you like this story? The Plainsman doesn't accept money from tuition or student fees, and we don't charge a subscription fee. But you can donate to support The Plainsman.
