The family behind Ratoath Pumpkin Patch have finalised preparations ahead of their grand opening today (Saturday, October 19).

Enda and Michael Quinn are opening the gates to their 12ac pumpkin farm in Co. Meath for the first time this Halloween season, in what promises to be a fun day out for the whole family.

The brothers bought the land adjacent to Michael's house back in 2008 and had spent a number of years toying with the idea of growing pumpkins in it before finally deciding to take the chance last spring.

"We were thinking of it for the last, maybe two, three years, and this year we just decided to bite the bullet and go for it.

"We are in a very good location as we're in the middle of four or five towns, and we just decided now might be a good opportunity to tap into the market here," Michael said.

The entire family were heavily involved throughout the venture, with Enda's wife deploying her graphic design credentials to help with marketing and Michael's wife Daniela, who is an accountant, taking care of finance.

The brothers hail from agriculture backgrounds, having been raised on a beef and dairy farm, and are currently employed by Tírlan and Progressive Genetics respectively.

However, as novices to the pumpkin trade, the brothers underestimated the skill and labour required of the business, propelling them to learn the ropes quickly - a lot of which they said, depended on age old trial and error.

"We both did research on the Internet and we read as much as we could, we just had to learn as we went, simple as that," Enda said.

"It was labour intensive, especially as we both have full time jobs outside of it [pumpkin farming], we've never worked as hard. When we do it again next year, we know all the mistakes so we won't repeat them," Michael added.

11 different varieties of pumpkins were bought from a certified dealer and subsequently planted on the farm back in May 2024, with the hopes of reducing the risk of crop failure amongst certain varieties come harvesting.

As with most fruit and vegetable growers, weather was the farm's biggest adversary this year.

"It's all about the weather, which was a risk from the very beginning. You want the weather to be good when they're growing. You want it to be good when you're harvesting and you want it to be good for when people are visiting the patch.

"It wasn't a good year for pumpkin growing - they flowered late, which meant that they were slower to ripen and they weren't as big so it was a difficult year to start," Michael said.

However, despite the poor weather conditions endured, the brothers are "quite happy" with their first harvest, with a yield of over 7,000 pumpkins ranging in shape, size and colour.

The brothers have no plans to sell their produce to retailers, which they claim, would not not be a viable option considering the low prices currently offered to producers by supermarkets.

Instead, they have chosen to sell their pumpkins direct to the consumer, which they told Agriland, is the only way to make a profit from this costly enterprise.

Following plenty of early starts and late nights, the duo are hoping their gamble will pay off.

They are expecting large crowds over the course of the 7-day event, with hundreds of tickets already sold in advance of the launch.

"We were very encouraged with the response we got from the locals. They have really gotten behind us and are delighted it's [the patch] is opening in their area. That's given us great confidence," Michael said.

Attendees can expect a wide range of entertainment and refreshment options on site, with face painting, photography, games and animal petting offered in addition to the pumpkins.

The farm also has geese, donkeys, goats and pet lambs for people to see, with a special guest appearance from Winnie, the pygmy goat.

The pumpkin patch will be open to the public from 10:00 to 4:00p.m, launching this weekend (October 19 and 20) and runs again from October 26 to October 30. Tickets can be bought on site and online via Ticketmaster.