With a little over a month to go before Halloween, it’s time to start decorating for the spookiest holiday of the year!

The best way to get into the Halloween spirit is pumpkin carving! It just isn’t Halloween without the pumpkin gutting, carving and
seed cooking.

Splash some color in your hallway or front porch with some fresh picked, locally grown pumpkins and gourds. Grab your friends or plan an adventurous date and head over to one of these pumpkin patches located near Eau Claire.

Pleasant Valley Farms

Located a quick 25 minutes away in Elk Mound, this action packed, fun-filled farm welcomes you to Fall Harvest Festival. The festival runs until Oct. 30, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, leaving you enough time to rustle up some
spooky decorations.

Choose from a variety of farm fresh Indian corn, squash, gourds, apples and, of course, pumpkins! The patch, filled with thousands of pumpkins, almost guarantees the perfect pumpkin for you.

Fall Harvest Festival showcases a wide variety of activities, as shown on their website but highlights the Jack-O-Launcher — send your pumpkins soaring through the air for hundreds of feet. If pumpkin launching isn’t your forte try out the Land of No Return Corn Maze, pumpkin bowling, the 80 foot Spooktacular Scare Slide and many other activities. All this is available for $7.00 per person.

Schultz’s Country Barn

The Schultz’s Farm, located in Eleva, is open year round. September hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and until 4:30 p.m. on Saturdays, as found on
their website.

Pumpkins, gourds, squash and Indian corn are available for purchase in all shapes and sizes through September and October. Most pumpkins are pre-picked, but between the times of 12 and 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, you can hitch a ride on their horse drawn wagon out to the patch to pick your own.

In addition to autumn vegetables, the Schultz’s offer a giant Noah’s Ark themed corn maze, wagon rides around the grounds, friendly animals for petting and their country store. Schultz’s website lists products available for purchase in the store all year round, including farm fresh eggs, handmade rugs, jewelry, furniture and much more.

Govin’s Meat and Berries

John and Julie Govin are proud to sell their environmentally friendly grown produce and pasture raised animals. Their 55-acre farm, located east of Menomonie, offers pasture- raised meat (beef, lamb and chicken) and three acres of pumpkins! Come back in the spring and summer for a tour of their lambing barn and the six-acre strawberry patch, with dates available online.

The pick-your-own pumpkins vary in sizes from 1 lb. to 200. The three-acre field of orange is sure to hold the right pumpkin for your doorstep. For some extra fun, pick a pumpkin from the patch to send soaring through the air in the
pumpkin cannon.

Along with the variety of produce and protein, they also offer a 10-acre corn maze. The corn maze is themed in honor of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital this year. Govin’s Farm is open weekends from 4 to 10 p.m.
until Oct. 30.