Monroe Students go on a Pumpkin Patch Trip

      Some Monroe children had a special treat Thursday - a tour of a real pumpkin farm!   

    Students from Cypress Point Elementary scampered across the dirt and sat on some hay at the Bayou Pumpkin Patch in Bastrop.   The kids were more than just a little excited.  Kindergarten Teacher Kaye Pace said, "They're having a blast, they're loving it. They've been running out on the field."
   
       The students learned about the different types of pumpkins, and how they are grown from vines. Pace talked about the chance to come out and experience what happens at a pumpkin patch. "Most of the children, when you ask where does a pumpkin come from, they say the grocery store," she said.

        Pumpkin Patch Owner Melodie Leporati launched the school field trip program. "I started this about seven years ago, and it was kind of a family thing." she said.

        Leporati said, Christmas traditions inspired the idea. "They go out and pick their christmas trees so why wouldn't they go out and pick their special pumpkin? So we decided to try school field trip with some of these kids, who never been on a farm," she said.

        They got a tour of the pumpkin patch, just in time for halloween. "We'll go out and just look into the patch and see what everything's going on, and then they'll come into the barn," she said.  "We'll do an educational speech and then we'll let them go all back out, get on the trailer ride, and go out and ride, and then they can actually go pick out their own pumpkin," she continued.
   
    Afterwards, the students got some Halloween treats, and they went back to school with their pumpkins. The Bayou Pumpkin Patch is also a popular attraction for families on the weekends, during the Halloween season.