Eight-year-old Elliot Taylor, along with his little brother Weston, 6, looked carefully through the dozens of pumpkins in the patch at Dellavale Farm, seeking the perfect one.

The two kids were at the farm Oct. 9 with their parents Leah and Lee. The day also included fun on the tube slide, stacked on some hay, checking out the cows and a wagon ride.

Tom Nelson and his wife Terri Phillips started the patch four years ago as a niche operation to add to their town of Florida dairy farm.

“When you’re a small dairy, you have to find ways to go directly to the customer,” Phillips said.

Phillips said she tries to incorporate pieces of the dairy farm into the pumpkin patch in order to educate people about what they do. She brings calves up for people to see and sells Cabot cheese, which is made with their milk.

“Ultimately, that’s the bottom line is to teach them that farming is good for the environment, good for the animals and all of that kind of stuff,” she said.

The Phillips family began the Pattersonville Road farm 105 years ago, when Claude Phillips purchased 170 acres in town.

Since then, the land has been passed down through four generations, with Terri Phillips and Tom Nelson marrying and purchasing the farm in 2001.

While both Phillips and Nelson lived on farms growing up, they worked in different career fields prior to taking over the farm. Phillips had worked for Sears for 13 years.

“I always came home and milked,” she said. “Corporate life is not for me.”

Nelson was working as an electronic technician at a mainline natural gas transmission company. However, he had always loved being on the farm so, within a year, he quit his job, married Phillips and started farming.

The farm currently milks 46 cows. It’s small farm store sells some of the Cabot products, as well as honey from Rulison Honey Farm, also based in town of Florida, maple syrup from Bedford, Indiana-based Brown Town Syrup, and various meats.

Nelson and Phillips said farming has its challenges. This year, due to an abundance of rain, they dealt with fungus, diseases and bugs in the pumpkin patch.

But, there were still plenty to pick from, they said. The patch is open three more days this season — Oct. 21, 22 and 28.

While at the patch, people can search for the perfect pumpkin or work their way through the corn maze. They can also go on a wagon ride by Livin Large Drafts and Carriage Service, try some food or try to slingshot some small pumpkins into a barrel.

Nelson’s niece Kate Brown, who helps at the patch, said she loves seeing people have fun.

“Everyone leaves with a smile,” she said.

Nelson and Phillips said they hope to keep adding to the patch and switching up the corn maze — perhaps adding a nighttime adventure to the maze.

The couple also said it hopes — down the line — another generation of the family will take over and keep the farm going.