TEMPLETON, Calif. — Picking your favorite, perfect pumpkin just got a little more fun. At 46 Ranch in Templeton, a new fall tradition opens this month: the longtime farm’s first-ever pumpkin patch!
“We really hope that families will come and spend the day with their children,” said 46 Ranch animal manager Jessica Winter. “We have this huge lawn area – kids can just run around and see all the animals, play…”
For the first time, 46 Ranch is opening its gates for a pumpkin patch, bringing pumpkins, friendly farm animals, and plenty of activities, like the whimsical Witch’s Walk that tells the story of the farm’s original homesteader back in the early 1900s, a jump pad, hayride tours, train rides, apple and pumpkin cannons, rubber ducky races, animal feeding, and gem mining to the property.
“We planted our first crop of pumpkins that we harvested in 2023. It was a very small harvest, and then the next year we decided to go a little bit bigger, and then each year it’s kind of gotten bigger and bigger,” Winter said. “We decided this year we’d try to step it up a little bit and make it a really fun, spend-the-day-here with your families.”
Take a walk on the regenerative farm among thousands of ranch-grown pumpkins, and you’ll see all different shapes and sizes. The ranch animal manager says zero pesticides are used on the pumpkins or any of the produce.
“Everything we do is about increasing the organic matter that is in our soil. One of the main ways that we do that is through our livestock - we do rotational grazing with our livestock,” said Winter. “After our goats have gone through, knocked down some of the taller crops and brush, our sheep then go through and do, sort of, the clean-up and, once they have cleared all the land, we move the chickens through. Once each livestock has had a chance to go through the pasture, we then plant our crops.”
The current 46 Ranch owners have owned the property since 2022 and started the pumpkin patch when their son specifically asked for just that. Four years later and bigger than ever, the family decided to make their farm an entire fall event and started planting the pumpkins in June.
“Throughout the summer, it’s pretty easy to maintain; we’re just weeding in between the pumpkins, taking care of them,” said 46 Ranch owner Bram Winter. “They like very little fertilizer, so it’s pretty simple. We then harvest, which we’re doing right now, and that’s probably one of the longest processes we do – we get them out of the field, get them cleaned up and getting ready for sale.”
Admission to the pumpkin patch is $10 for children ages 3 to 12 and $15 for adults. Children 2 and under are free.
Admission includes access to most activities. Additional experiences, including apple and pumpkin cannons, gem mining, and animal feeding, will be available for purchase. No admission is required for guests visiting only to purchase pumpkins.
The Pumpkin Patch opens Sept.18 and will be open Fridays through Sundays, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., at 11995 Santa Rosa Creek Rd. in Templeton.
