Pick a Pumpkin
Last Saturday I took a lovely trip out to Lancaster county to partake of breakfast at the Shady Maple Smorgasbord. As I was passing Blue Ball on my way home, I decided that since I was already up and it was a nice day out, I'd head over to the orchard to pick out a Halloween pumpkin. Ordinarily I select a pre-picked pumpkin from either a local grocery store or one of the farms in the area. I've never had the joy of romping through the pumpkin patch, and it seemed a good a day to start.
I wanted to get to the patch early in the season before all the good pumpkins were picked. There was no way I was going to get stuck with some half-rotted troll pumpkin. I wasn't quite sure of what all was involved with pumpkin picking, but at the very least I took a plastic shopping bag with me in case I needed to carry while it was slightly covered in mud.
The orchard was fairly busy when I got there, mostly with apple pickers. I was surprised when I found Fall raspberries were still available, and the temptation was too much. I asked for a few plastic containers and began strolling the raspberry field. The sun was beating down, and the black sweater I had put on early in the morning was getting quite warm. I saw the last of the apple pickers taking their bushels back to the stand and noticed it was very quiet and no one was around. I then heard a loud bang in the distance and, being alone in the middle of a giant field, freaked out thinking it might be a gunshot. I ducked and hid in the raspberry field for a while just to be safe. There were a few more bangs but after I started seeing people in the apple fields again I eased up.
I was plucking raspberries for a good hour and a half before I got out of the gated field to make my way to the pumpkins. On the way out I found a little wagon to tote my goods around in and made my way to the patch. At this point it was in the upper 80s and I was trudging uphill pulling a stubborn wagon and sweating my ass off. The hill seemed to go on forever, but the promise of the pumpkin patch beckoned me on.
Finally I got to the patch and began inspecting pumpkins. Had they not been priced at 49ยข a pound I would have grabbed the largest pumpkin I saw and planted it square in my wagon. Still, I found a fairly large pumpkin and gave it a good lookover before snapping it's green umbilical cord. Thankfully the way back with the pumpkin was all downhill and went much smoother than the uphill climb. I believe pumpkie weighed in just under 15lbs. I also believe the people at the stand may have heard me when I put him in the car and whispered, "You're coming home with me, pumpkie," to him and nestled him in with my raspberries and apple cider. I don't care. I picked him out of the patch with love, just like a Cabbage Patch Kid.
Two hours roaming through the orchard was definitely worth my little orange friend, even though I woke up from a nap later half-crippled due to the heel spur on my right foot. I'm going to be jumping at any noise outside from now til November, but I have my house bear working security to ward off any potential pumpkin smashers. I think I might have to get him a witches hat, though, to match the rest of the decor.
Oh lord those things are so much bigger than the ones I am growing. I think our biggest pumpkin is around the size of a softball.
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Reading this has inspired me to to go to my local pumpkin patch(it's propoer name is The Pumpkin Patch, that's what they named it). Pumpkie looks better than most store bought pumpkins anyway. Are you gonna carve him, or are you gonna get a different one to turn into a jack-o-lantern?
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You must carve him.
You have to kill what you love!
(and then put a candle inside)
P.S. sorry about your tmnt bumper magnet getting jacked.
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Pumkie does look pretty rad. Looks a lot better than the store bought ones around here.
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