By Buzzy Staten, Staff Writer
Summer is gone and the endless beach days are over. School started with loads of homework piled up to the ceiling. Leaves are falling along with a chilling breeze, and pumpkin spice is back.
That means it’s time to get your pumpkin.
Grandy Greenhouse is a local favorite pumpkin patch and farmer’s market. The owners, Allie and Colon Grandy, have been running their pumpkin patch for over 20 years.
It all started with “the influence of a teacher from Manteo that wanted something exciting to do with her students, and that’s what got us doing it,” Allie said.
Many First Flight students have made it a tradition to go every October, piling into the open hay trailer and heading into the fields to find that perfect pumpkin.
“I’ve gone every year with my family since preschool,” sophomore Shelby Miller said. “This year I am going with Sophie Johnson and my sister, Hayley.”
In addition to their bright orange pumpkins to choose, Grandy Greenhouse has many other products, including its famous homemade apple cider. Allie said her husband “grinds the apples that come directly off the trees on a farm in West Virginia, then presses them into juice. The children are always mesmerized by this process.”
They especially enjoy the taste.
“Me and my sister made it a tradition a couple years ago to go with each other every year,” sophomore Izzy Warner said. “The best part is the yummy apple cider and frozen yogurt. If you ever have the chance to go pick your own pumpkin, it’s really fun and a great experience.”
The pumpkin patch experience is not just fun for the kids, but for the whole family. The farmers market has cooking demonstrations, fresh herbs and vegetables, fruit, a seasonal gift shop and even a greenhouse filled with plants and flowers. For those who want to decorate for fall and Halloween, there is a plethora of pumpkins in all different shapes and sizes, different colored gourds, as well as hay bales.
The shop is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days a week. It is located at 6264 Caratoke Highway, just past the McDonald’s in Grandy on the drive toward Elizabeth City and Virginia. For more information, visit the greenhouse website.
“Everything is my favorite part,” Allie said. “I love seeing the children get on the wagon and wave as it takes them off to the patch, seeing them hop off and get a pumpkin, having a really exciting look on their faces.”
As Linus said in “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown,” “Each year, the Great Pumpkin rises out of the pumpkin patch that he thinks is the most sincere. He’s gotta pick this one. He’s got to. I don’t see how a pumpkin patch can be more sincere than this one.”
Stop by Grandy Greenhouse to see if it is that perfect pumpkin patch for you. You may just see a great pumpkin!
Sophomore Buzzy Staten can be reached at statenbu1127@daretolearn.org.
