Third Presbyterian Church Pumpkin Patch

Third Presbyterian Church Pumpkin Patch
corner of Fifth & Negley in the Shadyside neighborhood of Pittsburgh
5701 Fifth Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15232 | 412-661-4710 |



i'm actually fairly active at my church, especially since i'm not a member. and today the children and i helped out at the pumpkin patch. they do it every year as a fundraiser for their mission trips to haiti and other impoverished parts of the world, mainly north america. but they're very active in haiti, and a couple of members go twice a year. i really wanted to go this year, but when i mentioned it to christopher, he looked at me like i had two heads *smile*.

but i digress...today we went to the pumpkin patch, and i was unprepared for how much work there was to do. the shift started at 10 am, but i told michelle, the assistant pastor, that i couldn't be there til 11, so i was already an hour behind. the first thing i had to do was roll the pumpkins. most of them were on pallets, but we got so many this year that there were quite a few that weren't. if they stay in the same position on the wet ground they'll rot, hence the need for rolling. i estimate that i personally rolled about 100 pumpkins today, in a wide range of sizes from tiny to huge *smile*. and while the rolling was going on, i had to keep my kids from killing each other and help customers.

and i had some interesting customers. my first were two women who were looking for 3 almost identical pumpkins of 15" across. yeah, right *smile*. pumpkins that're that big are also really heavy, and who do you suppose they expected to carry these ginormous pumpkins? that's right--me! so i definitly got my workout today. between rolling them and lifting them, i don't think i'll need to go to the gym for a while *smile*. i also had a woman who wanted 50 mini pumpkins. thankfully she didn't need my help for anything *smile*.

my least favorite chore was moving the rotting pumpkins to the pile to become compost. ick! especially when you grab it in the wrong place and your hands are covered in pumpkin ooze. or one of your mini helpers knocks over the cart on which rotting pumpkins have been placed and hey explode all over the church yard. double ick!! *smile*

all in all, it was a fun day. we had wonderful weather for it, and the kids got to pick the biggest pumpkins they could carry *smile* and amazingly isabelle picked a short, fat pumpkin and alexander picked a tall thin pumpkin. go figure *smile*

so if you're in the market for a pumpkin in the pittsburgh area, be sure to stop by 3rd church. all the proceeds go to a very worthy cause *smile*.