Three pumpkin patches north of town, checked this week
One big ticketed day out, one farm stand you can bike to, and one small weekend patch. All three are open this month, and they are not interchangeable.
Picking a pumpkin is the easy part. Picking the farm is where the afternoon goes right or wrong, because the options north of downtown range from a full ticketed festival to a field beside a bike trail. Dates and hours below were checked on each farm's own site on October 8.
Galey Farms, Blenkinsop Road
The big one, and the one to plan. Galey's daytime fall event, Pumpkinfest, runs from October 3 to November 1 on weekends, plus Thanksgiving Monday and Friday, October 23. A ticket covers a Halloween-themed train ride around the farm, the corn maze, a wagon ride out to the pumpkin patch, the Old West ghost town and a children's haunted house. Children two and under get in free.
Three things to know before you go. Book ahead: tickets are sold by date, and the farm says plainly it cannot promise any at the door. Pumpkins are not in the ticket price, you buy them in the patch. And leave the dog at home, because only service dogs are allowed on the property. It runs rain or shine, so bring boots.
After dark the same farm becomes something else. Festival of Fear and The Asylum, a 6,000-square-foot haunted house the farm rates PG-13, run on weekend evenings and some weeknights from October 8 to 31. They are separate tickets and not aimed at small kids, so check which one you are buying. Galey Farms is at 4150 Blenkinsop Road, and our Pumpkinfest listing has the booking link.
Michell's Farm Market, Saanichton
The low-key option. Michell's has farmed on the Peninsula since 1862, and its U-pick pumpkin patch opened on September 26, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. You pick regular pumpkins and sugar pumpkins for pie in the field, and gourds and mini pumpkins in the market, which is open every day, 9 to 5.
The farm sits at 2451 Island View Road, right on the Lochside Trail, so this is the one you can make into a bike ride if you are willing to carry a pumpkin home. Harvest Rd, the farm-to-table grill beside the market, is open 10 to 5 every day except Wednesday.
Little Lochside Farm, on the Lochside Trail
The smallest of the three: a three-acre farm that backs onto the same trail. Its on-farm market is open Saturdays and Sundays from August through October, and the fall harvest brings a pumpkin patch, gourds, corn and a good spread of squash. The farm posts its hours and any changes on Instagram at @littlelochside, so look there before you go.
Which one, then
Small kids and a whole afternoon to fill: Galey, booked ahead. A pumpkin, some squash for dinner and not much fuss: Michell's, any day of the week. A slow weekend ride up the Lochside with a stop on the way: Little Lochside, then Michell's on the way back.