Looking for pumpkins? Where to find the great one in Eastern CT, plus fun fall activities

The equinox is past, and it’s now undeniably fall. The air is cooler, the nights are longer, and the leaves are full of red, yellow and orange. While some think of apples this time of year , others think about pumpkins. While many are familiar with a round, orange pumpkin, they can come in many sizes, shapes, and colors. Many places with pumpkins also have other fall activities, from corn mazes to hayrides and more.

While its still early, it’ll be time for Jack-o’-Lanterns before long, and then pumpkin pie after that.

Here are five places in Eastern Connecticut to find your great pumpkin!

DeFazio Orchard and Greenhouse, 1393 North Road, Dayville

The pumpkins at DeFazio Orchard are grown on site and placed around the property. The pumpkins are looking good this year, as there was no especially bad weather and “we got rain when we needed it,” owner Mitchell DeFazio said.

The orchard has over 30 kinds of pumpkins, plus plenty of squashes, too. For the regular pumpkins, the cost is $0.79 per pound. Other fall activities at the orchard include apple picking, a corn maze, hay rides and a petting zoo.

For anyone who hasn’t been to Defazio Orchard, Mitchell DeFazio or his wife are always running the store, and they keep it simple, he said.

“What we grow is what we sell, and it’s a beautiful place,” he said.

More: Five fun fall adventures an hour's drive from Norwich: Festivals, haunted houses & more

Hidden Acres Corn Maze, 150 Exeter Road, Lebanon

While Hidden Acres’ corn maze features prominently, they also have pumpkins, which owner Matthew Williams said his wife is in charge of. The two grow pumpkins at their house and bring them up the road to the corn maze.

Varieties of pumpkins grown by Hidden Acres include Jack-o'-Lanterns, Snowballs, Cinderellas, Porcelain Dolls, and more. The farm grows over 1,000 pumpkins a season. Most sell, but whatever’s left gets fed to the neighbor’s pigs, Williams said.

“Nothing goes to waste,” he said.

The cost is $6 for a large pumpkin, or $5 each if buying three or more. Small pumpkins are $3 each, and gourds are $1 or five for $3.

Other activities at the corn maze include cornhole, tic-tac-toe, and a corn-cob slingshot. You can also pay $1 to paint the pumpkins, Williams said.

Lapsley Orchard, 403 Orchard Hill Road, Pomfret Center

Owned by the current owners since 1984, Lapsley Orchard features apple picking from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and pumpkin picking starting Oct. 1. The farm is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., with hayrides Sundays from noon to 4 p.m. The farm also features food trucks, and visitors can pick up apple cider donuts and apple slushies on Saturdays and Sundays.

Savitsky Farm, 195 Cato Corner Road, Colchester

The pumpkins at Savitsky Farm are pre-picked and displayed for people to choose, Deborah Savitsky, who co-owns the farm with her husband, said.

“We want to just get the pumpkins off the ground, so they don’t rot,” she said.

Savitsky Farm as at least 50 varieties, with colors like orange, yellow and white, sizes big and small, and textures flat and bumpy. Prices range from $1 to $25, based on size.

The flat, stackable ones, the bumpy ones, and the unusual ones tend to be the most popular, but carving pumpkins become popular closer to Halloween, Savitsky said.

Other fall activities at Savitsky Farm include hayrides, a movie night on Oct. 18, and a pumpkin festival on Oct. 19.

Whittle’s Willow Spring Farm, 1030 Noank Ledyard Road, Mystic

Willow Spring Farm plants 20,000 pumpkins at the start of the season, and picks “hundreds or thousands” every day. Farm Manager Phil Whittle boasts the farm is “the best place to pick pumpkins in New London County.”

The farm has over 30 varieties. While the farm has the standard colors, they also have unusual colors like blue, green and even tie-dye.

“We don’t just grow the old orange like back in the day; we grow everything,” he said.

While the farm harvests the pumpkins from the vine, they arrange them in a field so people can still pick their own without traversing a messy pumpkin patch, Whittle said.

The farm charges $0.89 per pound, but never more than $30, even though Whittle knows he has 40- and 50-pound pumpkins.

“You could get the biggest one on the field, and it’s still only $30,” he said.

Sugar pumpkins, used for cooking, cost $3.50 each.

If you want to carve our pumpkins, look for a good stem, Whittle said.

Other fall activities include pick-your-own apples, a massive 1,500 or more pound pumpkin for people to take pictures with, and piglets to feed, Whittle said.

This article originally appeared on The Bulletin: Looking for pumpkins? Where to find the great one in Eastern CT, plus fun fall activities