Heading to a pumpkin patch has become a common mid-autumn trend in the UK, with it being a relatively recent cultural import from the US.
October sees a wash of Instagram stories depicting couples and singletons alike heading to a so-called pumpkin patch to select their ideal winter squash before presumably heading home to mutilate it into a Jack-o-Lantern.
However, it seems as though the trend itself might be a canny bit of manipulation on the part of the patches’ owners.
The idyllic-sounding pastime is all about cosiness, at least in the Instagram sense of the word. People wrap up warm, drag a loved one along with them, and traipse up and down a local farm’s pumpkin patch in search of an ideal one fresh from the vine.
Sometimes there are additional accoutrements, such as hayrides and stalls selling seasonal snacks. Apple-bobbing may also feature.
In the UK, our knock-off version of the practice has a somewhat more cynical bent to it. The visitors might have similar aims, but the pumpkin patch providers aren’t necessarily serving up the real deal.
Rob, posting on X as @bertnews, said: "I did not realise the whole pumpkin picking phenomenon was coming to a field where people have placed pumpkins to pick them up. We are quite, quite mad."
The message captioned an image of a few dozen pumpkins laid out on a large bed of straw – not exactly a pumpkin’s natural growing conditions.
"I mean you could do this with anything… ‘come and pick your own sausage/bread bin/cat,’" he added in a further comment.
Others were quick to share their consternation.
"I too had assumed it to be more like strawberry picking,” said one commenter.
"What?” began another. “They don’t grow like that? Thankfully my kids are too old to have been lured into this giant lie."
Another added: "I thought this too until a friend had posted a picture many years ago and I asked about it. The farm near us literally shipped in Tesco pumpkins."
"The one by us had Tesco stickers still stuck to them," joked another. Sadly, it doesn’t seem as though readily-carved ones were among the impostors.
TikTok user @chrissyschmogs said her “whole life has been a lie” in a video showing a similar setup.
The video pans to a truck laden with more pumpkins ready to be laid out for unwitting ‘pickers’ to collect.
"Wait so you're telling me the pumpkins I brought from Asda weren’t grown in Asda?" teased one commenter.
Featured Image Credit: Images By Tang Ming Tung via Getty ImagesTopics: Social Media
Rachael Davis