Pumpkin Time of Year

There are many reasons why I am happy we moved back to Portland, but one of my favorites is being able to live in the city and be so close to rural, beautiful Oregon.  I met my sister, her family and my parents on Sauvie Island (pronounced: so-vee) this morning to pick out pumpkins and try to convince my two year old nephew to ride the cow train.

Bella Organics Farm, Sauvie Island

The island is a less than 30 minute drive from my front door, and as soon as you cross the bridge you are completely engulfed in farmland.  The island sits in the middle of the Willamette River (pronounced: will-lamb-et), right before it converges into the mighty Columbia River.  Sauvie is a large island circled by a two lane road and is frequented by bicyclists and weekend visitors to the farms and sandy beaches.

My nephew was pretty excited to get his boots muddy.

This time of year all the farms have transformed themselves into family fun zones with corn mazes, farm stands, music pavilions, cow trains, and of course the obligatory pumpkin patch.  These did not exist when I was a kid.  We were lucky to go out here once a year in October with our school class and pick a pumpkin out of the muddy field....but there were no elephant ear stands and haunted corn mazes to be found.  Time changes, but fortunately Sauvie Island is loved by so many and has managed to retain its farm use and been able to manage the increasing amount of visitors it gets on the weekends.

We have been out here for bird watching as there is a large wildlife area in addition to warm summer nights listening to live music at one of the farms.  It is nice to live in a place that you can feel like you can "get away" without having to go very far.