Omas Pumpkin PatchOctober Fun at the Van Ommering Dairy FarmOmas Pumpkin Patch is one of the friendliest places in San Diego to celebrate October, Halloween and the harvest season. For the month of October, the Van Ommering Dairy Farm turns into a pumpkin patch to please toddlers to elementary school kids. It's open daily from 10 am to 7 pm, Tuesday thru Saturday. It's $6 for children 1 year and older. A fair price since that includes all the fun creative things to do on the farm, a hay ride, a bottle of water and pumpkin. Since it is a dairy farm, kids can even pretend to milk cows. Of course, just water is used, but my kids sure enjoyed "milking" the cows. This is as close as city folk get!
My friend's kids loved running through. Mine passed on the maze to my surprise. The maze isn't just for the preschool set...there were some pretty big kids laughing and running in there too! 
As the kids exit the maze, there a sand pile with lots of construction vehicles. This was a big hit with my kids. Then you can see tires the kids can crawl through (great training for your future army soldier!). Behind the tires, you see a shaded area where there are numerous picnic tables and a petting zoo with goats. This stacked hay at Omas Pumpkin Patch makes for great climbing and family photos. It's also common to see school groups having their picture taken here. Insider Tip: Mornings at Oma's Pumpkin Patch are crowded! There are school groups and church groups and any other group you can think of. Here they all are having lunch. They come in buses so one minute, it may be very quiet, and then you look up and wonder where all the kids came from! The wonderful lady at the ticket booth suggested coming in the afternoon because it's much quieter. So if you can handle the afternoon sun (it's HOT in Lakeside) and it works for your kids naptime, go after 1:00 p.m. 
Oma's Pumpkin Patch has covered hay rides but if you go in the morning like we did, there's not much chance you'll be able to ride. The school groups book the hay rides in advance so it's hard to get on. Hay rides leave on the half hour. So your best bet if you want to ride is to come in the afternoon or later, after the school groups have gone home. |
Then Oma's Pumpkin Patch has a hay maze that little ones can run through. There are exits on both ends, so if you're by yourself with little kids, you have to walk back and forth to make sure your toddler doesn't escape while you're not looking. 
