I am sitting at my computer composing another blog and an April snowstorm is approaching. When one’s mind is expecting spring to appear any day the thought of a fresh foot of snow is disappointing.

So I’m going to continue in the disappointing vain for a bit. Because after twenty years of growing pumpkins and selling them along the highway that passes our house I have decided to retire from pumpkin farming. As I announced my retirement intentions to the pumpkin shoppers last fall their responses were all the same. They were all disappointed.

In fact after hearing their similar reactions I began to feel a little disappointed myself! 🙂

Then I began to think about all the other disappointments that will result when I won’t be carrying my plastic ice cream pail out to the freshly tilled pumpkin ground. I won’t be kneeling down in the soft, black soil scraping a shallow hole, dropping in six pumpkin seeds, covering them with dirt and then standing up walking six feet to kneel down and start the whole process over again.

That planting process will be repeated 450 times before the pumpkin crop will be in the ground.

Jung’s are probably feeling disappointment right now as I am typing this blog. They are the seed company where I have bought my pumpkin seeds for the last several years. They have the best selection with the greatest variety of pumpkin plants of any of the major seed companies.

Last year I wrote them a check for $165!

Probably in their home office one of the employees is asking, “I wonder what happened to this ‘Larson guy’ from Minnesota? We haven’t received his pumpkin seed order yet! Do you suppose he collapsed last fall during pumpkin harvest? That would be disappointing.”

The cucumber beetles will certainly be disappointed. They are buried under plant litter and as the snow melts and the spring sun warms the ground they will awaken from their winter stupor.

They will begin to move around and come to the surface with visions of fresh pumpkin cotyledons dancing in their heads. Cucumber beetles suck the liquids from the tender plant leaves and if the gardener does not discover them soon enough they will kill the tiny immerging pumpkin plant in a couple hours.

I won’t be feeling sorry for any disappointments they may be feeling this spring.

The Richardson ground squirrels and 13 lined ground squirrels are probably beginning to stir in their grass- lined nests deep underground. Hibernation is about to end.

One of their favorite foods that they feasted on the previous fall that fattened them up and prepared them for their winter snooze were pumpkins from Mr. Mike’s Pumpkin Patch.

Actually their pumpkin diet began earlier than that for some of them. They would dig up the newly planted seeds and dine on them even before the seeds could germinate.

So any ground squirrel disappointments resulting from the lack of pumpkins to munch on this growing season will garner no sympathy from me. They are way ahead in the dishing out of disappointments as far as I’m concerned!

But the biggest disappointment will be felt by none other then the White-tailed Deer. Over the twenty years that I have grown pumpkins they have been my biggest pests.

Thanks to them I have had to invest in dozens of steel fence posts, rolls of chicken wire, balls of twine, yards of electric fence wire and a solar electric fencer all in an attempt to keep them from destroying the ripening pumpkins.

The last couple of years they became so brave that they walked among the lines of pumpkins displayed on our lawn in the dark of night of course and sampled a pumpkin here and there. If they enjoyed the taste the next morning I would discover the remains of the tasty ones scattered, broken and half eaten.

But this fall it will be time for their disappointments when there are no orange orbs to feast on.

I think the community will also be disappointed. If I could have a dollar over the last twenty years from each person that asked me “How’s the pumpkin crop doing this summer?” I would be a very rich man.

Families get in their vehicles during the summer and go for a ride with the intention of driving by the pumpkin patch to see how things are progressing. Then when I see them in town they come over to me and discuss their observations.

Actually I’m going to miss that ‘ice breaker’ opportunity of discussion because it often leads to other topics and I learn some interesting happenings about what’s going on in the community. That couldn’t be classified as gossiping could it? 🙂

Well there’s the list of the many creatures that will suffer disappointments when I don’t labor with the tilling, planting, weeding, spraying and harvesting of a pumpkin crop. But you know to be perfectly honest there’s one more individual who is also going to suffer a little disappointment…me!

I’m going to miss the slamming car doors when a car filled with chattering, laughing and yes, sometimes screaming children unloads in our front yard. I’ll miss the children’s excitement as they run here and there searching for that perfect pumpkin.

I’ll miss the women who will roam up and down the rows of pumpkins, turning them and examining them with great care. They will spend an hour making sure they have located the correct sizes, colors and shapes of the pumpkins required for decorating their yards.

I’ll miss the families as they take pictures among the rows of pumpkins and especially the pictures taken with their children peering through the bars of pumpkin prison.

I would be lying if I didn’t admit that at the end of each day as the darkness of evening was creeping over the land I really enjoyed walking out to the money box, holding an ice cream pail under the box and opening the trap door to let the days earnings drop into the pail. It made the hard work of summer worth it! 🙂

So another stage of my life comes to an end. It has been a fun twenty year ride. The pumpkin ground will again return to CRP and the deer, ground squirrels and cucumber beetles will have to fend for themselves. I’m sure they will do just fine.

I’ll revert back to growing a small garden. Maybe I could grow some Indian corn and test that market out for a few years! Oh, no, here we go again! 🙂

Until next time.