Halloween is right around the corner and WSU’s Organic Farm can fill all of your pumpkin desires. 

The WSU Eggert Family Organic Farm is having its annual Pumpkin Harvest, and this is the last weekend it will be up and running, Brad Jaeckel, farm manager and instructor, said.

The pumpkins were started from seed in mid-May and then transplanted to the field in mid-June, Jaeckel said. After being taken care of all summer and maturing until the end of September, they are now ready for a new home.

Students in the organic and sustainable agriculture major have a two-credit 90-hour requirement to work on a farm for the major, Jaeckel said. If students enjoy working on the farm after their 90 hours, they can then be hired on to work for the farm.

“We’re primarily here to be a site where students can get hands-on experience in a form of small-scale agriculture, so it’s a really hands-on program,” Jaeckel said. “We teach marketing, harvesting, sales. A lot of what we do is the business aspect of running the farm day to day, and so we involve students in all the different parts of the farm.”

All the money generated through the pumpkin sales goes back into the program to support employees, purchase seeds, fertilizers,equipment and whatever else the farm may need, Jaeckel said. 

Senior biology major Keagan Gale worked at the farm full-time over the summer and then cut back to 25 hours a week when school started up, he said.

“I personally love to see families coming out and interacting with farming as the majority of families don’t really interact with where their food comes from, or in this case where pumpkins come from,” Gale said. “Seeing the little kids out there picking their pumpkins, having fun on the farm and seeing smiles on everybody’s faces is probably my favorite part of it.”

The farm will additionally have a stand open on both Friday and Saturday so those interested can purchase other available farm vegetables, Jaeckel said. The farm asks that people leave their pets at home and they prefer card payments, as well as Cougar cards.

“It’s become a real mainstay for outings for a lot of the families in the area, we get a lot of kids that come year after year with their families,” Jaeckel said. “And you know, folks just love going out into the field and finding the pumpkin that they want to take home, so it’s a really fun, outdoor event.”

The U-Pick Pumpkins event will be open Friday from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. and on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.