While it might be one of his favourite months of the year, October is certainly among the busiest for Co. Cork farmer Joe Burns.

The family farm in Killeagh, East Cork, has returned its Halloween pumpkin picking event again this year, with visitors coming from all over the country.

Joe’s Farm, which produces Joe’s Farm Crisps too - "from crop to crisp" - has a "bumper crop" of 30,000 pumpkins this year.

The farm is welcoming visitors to have a walk around the farm, learn about farming and pick their own pumpkins and vegetables to take home.

The initiative aims for adults and children to actively engage in harvesting food and start conversations about eating local produce.

Joe’s Farm is run by Joe Burns and his wife Sandra, together with their three children.

The family diversified their vegetable farm into making crisps from potatoes, carrot, parsnip and beetroot in 2014.

For the last eight years, the farm has been offering a pumpkin-picking experience, and this year it is running each weekend inOctober.

Joe Burns told Agriland that the family has been farming on the site for over 20 years.

"Years ago. we were doing a lot of farmers' markets. whereas now we make crisps as well on site from our main crops grown," he said.

The farm also holds a sunflower picking event during the summer months, and the idea for both this and the pumpkin picking, along with the production of vegetable crisps, initially came about after Burns visited the US.

He said this is the farm's eighth year of pumpkins, with the first year being "just kind of an experiment".

"The first year we did the pumpkin picking was for a local school, to see if it would even work," Burns explained.

"When we started, our big thing was to get schools in to try and teach kids where their food comes from, because we find there is a big disconnect."

The farm operates guided pumpkin-picking school tours, where each child gets an empty potato bag and can pick their own vegetables straight from the earth.

Along the way, they learn about the business of crisps, from growing the crops to the finished product. 

The minute Christmas passes, Burns said he is planning straight away for the Halloween period.

He said the farm trials different varieties of pumpkins, but in general, "people want a big orange pumpkin".

This year was a "bumper year" for pumpkin growing, the Co. Cork farmer noted.

Wear your wellies

During events like this, there is a "buzz around the farm", according to Burns.

"I just love that buzz. When you can hear kids laughing and running around, it's a fantastic feeling," he added.

The thousands of visitors to the farm over the coming weeks are being reminded that it is an outdoor event at a working farm, so be sure to wear their wet gear and wellies.