Pumpkin Painting at Happy Valley Orchard
Every year I always try to take a weekend to visit Happy Valley Orchard, in Middlebury, VT. The orchard is owned by my Uncle Stan and Aunt Mary. My mom and various cousins work at the stand as well, so I always enjoy visiting and spending the day. It's a lovely place to be in the fall. I love seeing all the pumpkins, apples and gourds and the cider and donuts are delicious!
For the past few years, I've decorated a pumpkin, while I'm there. For the first few years I carved a pumpkin. It's always a different design, and I always opt for something fun, rather than scary. This is the cat pumpkin was one I carved three years ago. I carved part way into the skin, but did not carve all the way through or hollow out the pumpkin. To make the carvings, I used wood and clay carving tools.
The carving can be a bit messy and take a lot of time to do, so last year, I changed it up and painted a pumpkin, rather than carving it. The advantage of this method is the pumpkin lasts a bit longer. This year, I painted another pumpkin during the annual Ciderfest, held at Happy Valley Orchard. It was a beautiful day, so I was able to sit outside and paint and watch the festivities. There is music, great food, free popcorn, and apple and cider samples. It was great fun and so relaxing to sit outside, listening to music and painting. Coincidentally, the theme of this year's pumpkin was a cat again. (I don't do cat pumpkins every year and didn't realize I had done another one, until I started cropping photos for this post. Whoops!) Here is the pumpkin mid-painting and finished.
I was able to finish up the pumpkin painting a bit early, so spent the rest of the day, walking around the orchard and picking apples and just enjoying the Ciderfest. It was just a perfect Vermont autumn day!
