As I sit here typing this blog I look out my office window and see a sea of orange covering our lawn. Pumpkins: large ones, medium sized ones, small ones, orange ones, warty ones, white ones, and red ones all lined up neatly with a sign in front of each line indicating the price.

For nineteen years this has been the fall tradition at our house and the community expects it and looks forward to it. I would be a rich man if I received a dollar every time someone asked me, “How’s the pumpkin crop coming?” They worry when I’m going to plant them, if the plants have emerged from the soil, are the pumpkins turning orange and on and on the questioning goes. When things get boring at home I think they say, “Let’s drive out past Larson’s and see how the pumpkin crop is progressing.”

Two springs ago the community became very concerned when I didn’t get the ground tilled soon enough and the emerging pig weeds covered the gardens with their reddish leaves. Rumors spread that I wasn’t going to plant pumpkins that year. You folks that come from small towns can understand how that would happen. People in the community often know what I’m going to do before I do. (At least they think they do!) 🙂

For the last three seasons our kids, spouses and grandchildren have bailed me out by coming home to help move the pumpkins from the field to the front lawn. That is a blessing and has saved me from sprains, strains, muscle spasms, cardiac arrest and chiropractor visits!

This past weekend the workforce showed up again and prepared the pumpkin crop for sale. As we were working someone asked me how many years I had been selling pumpkins along Highway #27. I didn’t remember the number of years but I did remember that our middle offspring, Jill, got married the same summer I became a pumpkin farmer. She reminded us that her and husband Greg have been married 19 years. Wow! I was shocked. It sure didn’t seem that long. But you know the old adage, “Time flies when you’re having fun!”

I love to watch the pairs of green cotyledons push through the soil announcing the birth of a new pumpkin plant. Then for several weeks the fields must be patrolled and watched for the appearance of the dreaded cucumber beetle. These nasty insects can destroy a tiny pumpkin plant in a day if the insect’s population is high enough.

The plants spend several days growing taller and then the sending out of vines begin. Soon the field is a mass of huge leaves, twisted vines and yellow trumpet shaped male and female flowers. Then the miracle of pumpkin formation takes place hidden in the depths of the waist high pumpkin leaves. It’s like nature wraps the field in pumpkin leaves and very much like a Christmas gift we have to wait for the wrapping to be removed for us to see what gifts have been produced. An early frost can accomplish that task very easily.

Viewing the pumpkins for the first time is one of my favorite experiences. But nothing is more rewarding or enjoyable than hearing the shrieks, excited babbling and laughter of children searching for their favorite pumpkin.

Of course there are a few downsides to the arrival of the children. Like the time a young fellow decided to jump the rows of pumpkins and in doing so his foot broke a few stems on the pumpkins. Stemless pumpkins don’t sell well.

I built a pumpkin prison. It’s a giant pumpkin with a window cut in it that includes bars. It is a favorite place for parents to snap a picture of their little darlings. I’m sure there are some times parents are wishing they could bring the jail home with them and make use of it when the little darlings are not being little darlings. 🙂

I almost lost the prison one fall day when a grandmother brought her two grandsons out to  shop for pumpkins. The biggest boy stepped on the window sill of the pumpkin and climbed on top of the pumpkin prison.  From there he taunted his little brother.

Now when I built the prison I was not envisioning it to be used as playground equipment so needless to say I was concerned about the prison’s survival. Luckily after a few minutes the boy dismounted and the prison survived all except for a few dislodged orange paint chips

The first years I produced probably 100 to 200 pumpkins. This fall we each took a row of pumpkins and counted them after they were displayed on the lawn. The grand total of pumpkins for 2017 was 1600! And that did not count the hundreds of gourds that were also harvested.

After 19 years of pumpkin farming I think the most important outcome of the process was “memory making” for all the families that have visited each year. I’m sure some of the first visitors 19 years ago are now bringing their children out to the pumpkin patch to enjoy its magic.

Come and visit us sometime even if you aren’t a kid. Remember we are all young at heart! 🙂

Until next time.