PUMPKINS AND PONIES
We invite you to join us at our home for our annual Pumpkin Harvest, Pony Rides, and Lunch Stand on October 4th and 11th from 10 am to 2 pm
Limited Ticket Sales
Pony Rides 10am -1:00pm $18 per ride
Pumpkins and fire-roasted hot dogs
4506 South Bond Street Seattle Washington 98118
Drive past Yellow House, Park in Meadow, walk up to the arena
Monster pumpkins: $50
Friends welcome, but no dogs please
No outside food
One private party location available upon request
Parking/Admission $20 Prepurchase Price - Parking covers admission for everyone in the vehicle just provide proof of purchase upon arrival - Store
Parking/Admission will increase to $30 a few days before the event
No unattended minors, no drop-offs, please
All parking on the farm to be respectful of our neighbors
The Story of Pumpkins and Ponies
Lisa Sferra Olsen (4th generation on the farm) won the prize for the biggest homegrown pumpkin at Emerson Elementary School in 1979. She grew the pumpkin at her home, Seattle Farm. The “secret sauce” then and the “secret sauce” now is still the same - 100% organic horse manure - made fresh daily by our four-legged friends.
Many years later, Lisa, then a young mother, tossed her kids’ old pumpkins into the horse pasture adjacent to her home, where she was raising her family across the street from her childhood home. Much to everyone’s surprise the following year a vine grew in the pasture and produced pumpkins. Shortly thereafter, Lisa and Army began cultivating pumpkins as it seemed to be the best crop to grow on the farm.
Pumpkins and Ponies began 14 years ago when Army grew a bumper crop of pumpkins and Lisa hitched the Shetland pony to the small wagon and headed out into the city with Army, Gigi and the pumpkins. Along the way friends jumped into the wagon and pumpkins were sold out of the wagon. The wagon bumped along Lake Washington Boulevard all the way to Madison Park. A few years later the kids and pumpkins both grew bigger. Lisa began driving the covered wagon with the Welsh pony and children began coming to the farm to harvest the pumpkins directly out of the patch. Lisa delivered the kids into the patch via the covered wagon and the produce out of the patch to the waiting cars. Back in the early days it was just family and friends. These days Pumpkins and Ponies has grown to include the greater community.
In October 2023, Gigi brought a pumpkin to a friend’s event where Mayor Bruce Harrell spoke. At the reception Gigi and Lisa ran into the Mayor and his wife and conversation began with Gigi commenting that her pumpkin matched the color of the Mayor’s tie. In October 2024, Mayor Harrell and his family attended Pumpkins and Ponies and it made our entire family feel we had created something meaningful even if it is just an event about rotund, colorful vegetables. At Pumpkins and Ponies, the youngest generation is the center of attention, the older kids help us put it on and the oldest generation loves to come watch it all too. We continue to make yearly additions to our authentic urban agriculture experience at our beloved family farm.
Pumpkins and Ponies in the Press
PUGET SOUND BUSINESS JOURNAL - A PATCH OF CITY'S PAST
"Years ago, someone tossed an old pumpkin into the family horse pasture in Seattle's Rainier Valley. Over time, the pumpkin patch grew, and this Halloween season, the great-grandson of the farm's founders, 15-year-old Amador "Army" Olsen, posted the pumpkins on blogs and sold more than 30 in three..."
Harvest time at pumpkin patch in South Seattle
Originally published September 30, 2017 at 6:50 pmUpdated October 19, 2017 at 2:52 pm
It takes teamwork for Ned Carner and his daughter Kate to lift the 75-pound pumpkin she selected Saturday to take home from Seattle Farm LLC in the upper Rainier Beach neighborhood. (Alan Berner/The Seattle Times)
