Deep Well Pumpkin Patch and Corn Maze

All photos were taken by Jessie Lynn Nelson from JLN Photography

Making Memories As A Family Is A Huge Deal In My House

I know I write a LOT about my family ootings (ooo-tings is the only correct pronunciation for 'Outing' anymore since we watched the anime Spy Family on Crunchy Roll). We don't get to do them often but when we do, we usually launch into our ooting at full energy. We take it seriously for many reasons, and each of them is trauma-related to our own childhoods.

Every single one of my children's parents comes from a home that was broken in some way, shape, or form in our childhoods. So these moments that we take with the kids, we cherish and make the most of them, in hopes that they take these moments into their adulthood.

Deep Well Family Farm in Lenoir City (A district of the City of Knoxville) helps families like mine. Their motto is "where memories are made," and I think they stand up to that pretty darn well. Let's cast the scene, shall we?

Read this article and many more of mine on Medium!

My 6 and 4-year-old energizer kids were shrieking with excitement as we put on their bracelets: "I WANT TO GO SEE THE CHICKENS!"

Thought bubble: We have chickens at home y'all. I wanna go see the baby goat and giant piggies!

They were kind enough to list all the attractions there for the adults leading expeditions and herding hordes of tiny humans (which is a lot like herding cats, for anyone who doesn't have the uh... 'pleasure' of knowing what that's like) pointing to exactly where everything was. There is slightly disorganized chaos to the layout of the land, with playgrounds smacked down in the middle of...EVERYTHING.

Anything that you can imagine that a child might enjoy doing, that requires PHYSICAL effort, Deep Well Farms has it.

They have tetherball poles dotting the landscape, slides EVERYWHERE for all kids of all sizes, a sand pit, a tire tower, swings, bars for climbing and wallering, tiny little rock climbing walls (not big enough for any kid to get hurt), a twister toy, mega slides made with the earth, basketball hoops where the balls roll back to you like in the arcades.

Not to mention the Gopher Hole, The Barn Slide, Pumpkin Patch, and the Cornmaze. For your older kids, you can bring them in, and just let them run wild. And since the space is so open, you can keep track of them without having to keep up with them.

In other words, if you bring the kids here they are going to sleep like the dead for at LEAST 6 solid hours.

For a solid 30 minutes, I watched as the kids ran up the stairs to the loft of a little barn, and careen themselves down a tube. Honestly, that distracted us before we finally made our way to the chickens that they (by "they" I am mostly referring to Aylaina Sky) so desperately wanted to see in the beginning.

Like with most traditional pumpkin patches, there is a wagon wide by tractor to it. There were no hay bales on the tractor ride at this particular farm, so that's a plus with people who get really bad hay fever but still want to enjoy the fall season festivities.

The pumpkin patch was carefully cut away of all actual plant matter, and only the little pumpkins were out for kids to pick. You were able to purchase larger pumpkins and extra pumpkins for very cheap prices. There were two types of pumpkin too, the typical orange and a cute two-tone yellow and orange type.

We didn't have time to go through the corn maze, but it was kid-friendly. It wasn't designed to be a super-tall-fun-for-grown-ups-terrifying-children-of-the-corn type of maze. Which is nice since this was clearly geared toward families with younger kids.

Meanwhile, my kids just wanted to play in the sand pit and go down the mega slides until we were ready to go. We were just fine with that, as it allowed us to get a snack from the vendor that was there.

Agritourism Farms like Deep Well Aren't Just For October Though.

Throughout the year they are open for things like weddings, birthday parties, reunions, and other such events, providing a rustic outdoor experience for any event that can handle a farm venue setting. They even let daycares and schools arrange for field trips to learn about farm animals! Pretty cute, huh?

Never Been To A Pumpkin Patch? Here Are A Few Super Secret "Mom" Tips To Make Your Day A Little Better

Sometimes, we go to something, and it's everything we expect... and then a little that we didn't. And usually, the little bit that we didn't expect are the things that can make a day that has the potential to be the BEST ever .... to just okay. Like...ALLERGIES! So follow these tips, to make sure your pumpkin patch day is amazing.

1. Wear pants, and long sleeves if you have sensitive skin.

You will most likely be on a farm. Which means there might be animals, hay, lots of dirt, grass, and who knows what else? If you have sensitive skin that likes to break out into allergic reactions, please wear clothing that protects you from the brunt of it all!

2. Take allergy medicines BEFORE you go.

Make taking those antihistamines part of your getting-ready routine. My brother took TWO allergy pills, and the minute he stepped into the animal barn with all the hay, he still busted out with the sneezles. Autumn allergies are a big deal for a LOT of people.

3. Take bottles of water with you.

If your budget can only afford the $15 admission pass, then you're going to want to bring snacks and a drink with you. Vendors are expensive. Think of pumpkin patches like... stationary fairs. Fair food is expensive.

4. Hand Sanitizer Will Probably Be Your Best Friend

There was only one bathroom area at the farm. Each was equipped with a few stalls. There was a communal sink outside the bathroom doors of two sinks, and one dryer. The rest of the property sported cute little blue and grey portable potties.

Dirt. Farm. Animals. Pumpkins. Humans. Germs. SANITIZER!

That is all for today my friends!

Find my fictional fantasy book "Memoirs of the In-Between" on Amazon in paperback, eBook, and hardback.

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