Now that the weather is cooling off I’m finally excited about fall. I wore some boots and a sweater today, and I am really excited to tackle a few pumpkin recipes I’ve been eyeing. The only bummer is that I can’t find any locally sourced, organic pumpkin here in central Texas. The closest grower I could find is Krause Farm near Navasota, Texas, about two and half hours east of Austin. That’s stretching the bounds of “local” for me, so I’ll probably be picking up a few organic pie pumpkins at Central Market this afternoon. I’m planning to try to make version of this Pumpkin Infused Vodka and my own recipe for Pumpkin Bagels in the next few days. Wish me luck slogging through all those snotty pumpkin insides!
Out of fairness, I should mention that there are a few local non-organic pumpkin patches close to Austin that might be fun to visit.
- Sweet Berry Farm in Marble Falls, Texas has a pumpkin patch, corn maze, and hay rides available. Jack o’Lantern pumpkins are 29 cents a pound and pie pumpkins are $2-3. My friend Joanna of Keep Austin Stylish visited Sweet Berry Last weekend and got some great pictures of the jack o’lantern pumpkins they have for sale, plus her awesome riding boots. (Click the picture to see a complete account of her experience at Sweet Berry.)
- Evergreen Farms is the closest pumpkin patch to Austin. Located in Elgin, Texas, Evergreen sells non-organic jack o’lantern pumpkins, plus they offer pumpkin decorating, a petting zoo, and the intriguing sounding “Pumpkin Launcher” for just $2. They also have a cut-your-own Christmas tree lot starting the Friday after Thanksgiving.