Muelrath Ranches Pumpkin Patch in Santa Rosa
Muelrath Ranches Pumpkin Patch offers families a true farm experience, since it takes place on an actual working farm located between Sebastopol and Santa Rosa. Families will find a variety of different kinds of pumpkins and winter squash here (over 20 kinds!), as well as plenty of other attractions.
It's well worth a visit on your quest to find that perfect pumpkin this fall, especially for families with small children. It's a cute place that has loads of country charm and atmosphere and it's one of our favorite places to visit every fall. Muelrath Ranches has been farming this site since 1946. It was originally a dairy farm and they turned to growing pumpkins in 1995.
Muelrath's doesn't offer you the chance to pick pumpkins off the vine. Instead, they're laid out in several fields around the farm. They do grow everything they sell, though, and all pumpkins here are sustainably grown and pesticide free. Pumpkin varieties include the standard orange jack-o-lantern kind, with sizes ranging from small to gigantic, as well as white, green, and cinderella types and a variety of heritage pie pumpkins and squash.
You can actually see the pumpkins growing out in their fields beyond the pumpkin patch, so you know you're getting fresh pumpkins right from the source. Muelrath's supplies pumpkins to many Sonoma county grocery stores and pumpkin patches, too. Pumpkins grown here are not certified organic but are pesticide-free and grown with sustainable methods.
Pumpkins here cost $1 per pound (unless otherwise noted) and are weighed on a big farm scale near the entrance to the pumpkin patch. There's also a covered stand where you can browse a wide variety of other squash and gourds, including pie pumpkins, and acorn, delicata, and turban squash. You can also purchase things like roasted pumpkin seeds and honey at the checkout stand and popcorn at a stand near the spook house and corn maze.
You'll find plenty of fun attractions here, which are free unless otherwise noted. There's an amazing spook house haunted dungeon ($3 per person admission; under 3 free), a little kids' corn maze, hay bale pyramids to climb, a hay maze, a pumpkin cannon, and old tractors and farm equipment to check out. They also offer narrated tractor-drawn hay rides (two for $5) around the ranch that gives in interesting look into the world of pumpkin farming.
The spook house — with a Stranger Things theme — is a really well done and offers a lot of spooky fun. It's more silly than scary but it might be a little intense for younger kids. We always make sure we visit it every season to see what's new!
Wheelbarrows and wagons are available for you to pull your pumpkins back to checkout. On Saturday and Sunday, October 17 and 18, they'll be hosting a display of early gas engines and historic tractors. Muelrath's is truly one of our favorite fall destinations, with plenty of attractions for all ages (but with a special focus on younger kids), a great selection of pumpkins, and really nice people working there.
If You Go
Muelrath Ranches Pumpkin Patch is open daily from 10 am to 6 pm through Saturday, October 31. It's located at 3800 Walker Avenue, Santa Rosa CA 95407. To get there, take Highway 101 to the Todd Road exit (485). Head west over the freeway and follow Todd Road until you get to Walker Avenue, where you'll turn right. Follow Walker Avenue south until you get to the pumpkin patch. Parking will be on your right across the road from the farm.
Admission and attractions are free with the purchase of a pumpkin, except for the spook house ($3) and tractor rides (2 for $5). Water, soda, cider, and popcorn are available for purchase. Cash and cards accepted ($15 credit and debit card minimum). There are plenty of picnic tables on the grounds so feel free to bring your lunch. Portable restrooms are available for use.
For more information, visit www.muelrathspumpkins.com or call (707) 585-2195.
