October 11, 2006
Pumpkins, Pumpkins and More Pumpkins!
This year, I decided I wanted to grow my own pumpkins. I wasn't sure how they'd turn out because (1) I planted them late in the season and (2) the only spot in our yard suitable for a garden gets about three to four hours of direct sunlight, at most, in the peak days of summer. Nevertheless, we came away with quite a bit of booty. We actually got several pumpkins from our little 10x6 patch of dirt.
In metropolitan California, real, honest-to-goodness pumpkin patches are practically non-existant. Since moving to this rather depressing concrete jungle almost five years ago, I've watched three different "pumpkin patches" fold. They weren't even real pumpkin patches where you get to pick your pumpkin from the vine. The pumpkins were pre-picked and laid helter-skelter on empty parking lots with a bit of straw and some orange lights strewn about. Not exactly a "pick-your-own" kind of feeling, but certainly better than picking one up in your local grocer's produce section, nonetheless. As of 2006, I know of only one remaining pumpkin patch in the South Bay/South Peninsula area. (No, I can't say for sure that there are no other patches, just none that I've seen in my drives around the area.) This patch also happens to be located in the most shee-shee, froo-froo area of the Peninsula -- the area around Stanford University. I stopped by one year and was shocked at the prices they were charging for a pumpkin. Oh well, I guess price doesn't matter for the folks who can afford to live in the surrounding neighborhood.
Anyway, back to my story. Having truly adored pumpkin patches, hayrides and all the other festivities of harvest season as a child growing up in a rural, agricultural area, I wanted to share a similar experience with my coworker's daughter. Sarah has never known a life outside the concrete jungle, and I thought it would be a treat for her. Yesterday afternoon, Deborah brought Sarah over to pick pumpkins.
No, I didn't have any of the niceties of a real pumpkin patch. But the pumpkins were still on their vines, and Sarah got to go around picking this one and that one. I think she had a good time. Next year, (if we're still here), I'll plant pumpkins again but will do so earlier in the season. Then, when they're ready to harvest, I'll decorate the area as best I can with what I've got to work with. Hopefully, it will be more festive than this year.
Posted by Kasey on October 11, 2006 09:26 AM | Filed Under: LifeThere's one little fruit and vegetable stand left off Grant Road in the Mountain View/Los Altos area but I'm not sure if it's a real "patch," and a "Corn Palace" (ripoff, wormy corn) growing-field down in Sunnyvale off Lawrence. Sad for a place that I remember as a kid being covered in dusty apricot orchards and such...
Posted by: DirtCrashr on October 11, 2006 10:49 AMYou and me both, DirtCrashr! I grew up in the central San Joaquin Valley. We had farms, fields and dairies as far as the eye could see. Now it's being overrun with commercial and residential development as the population explodes. It makes me cry inside to think that the places I used to play are probably paved over now or are buried beneath a store or someone's house. While the area is still predominantly devoted to agriculture, the farmland of my youth is definitely dwindling.
Posted by: Kasey on October 11, 2006 11:10 AMI feel sorry for all the city dwellers out there that don't know where their food comes from. I live in a city but very close to farms of all types. The local news reports that 25% of our local pumpkin crop this year is unusable because of too much rain. There is still an abundance of pumpkins though.
Posted by: Bruce on October 11, 2006 04:09 PMI live a half hour from the pumpkin capital of the world - Morton, IL. :D Seriously - go to http://www.pumpkincapital.com/ :D They have the Libby's factory that cranks out all the canned pumpkin. In fact, the Punkin Chuckin contest is coming up soon!
How neat that you were able to grow your own pumpkins! I don't mind some big cities, but I much prefer somewhere smaller like B/N where we can get out of town in less than five minutes yet we have lots of the niceties of a city such as restaurants, cultural stuff, and shopping.
I'm going to go catch up on your other autumn posts now. :)
Posted by: Kristi on October 11, 2006 07:02 PMI just visited the Pumpkin Capital website. You folks take your pumpkins seriously, don't you?
Oh, how photos like those posted on PumpkinCapital.com really bring back the memories. We don't have pumpkin festivals where I'm from, but we used to have the small town atmosphere where people loved to get together for almost any little event or festival. Unfortunately, my hometown lost it's small town Americana character when hoardes of people began moving there from the big cities (Los Angeles and the SF Bay Area). Once they began to arrive in significant numbers, the entire feel of the city seemed to change. Yes, compared to other cities in California, it's still on the smaller side (somewhere around 55,000-60,000 people, I think). But the strip malls, crowding, traffic, McMansions and pretentiousness of the affluent big city transplants have turned our once rural agricultural town into a place I no longer recognize.
Affairs like your pumpkin festival would have been the highlight of the season for us when I was growing up (a short 25 years ago). Now, the only thing that seems to matter is diversity fair this, multicultural fair that, but none of the fairs ever seem to care much about my culture -- the American culture. To me, it's incredibly sad what's happened, especially considering how quickly the transformation has taken place.
I very much miss small town America. It looks like you still have it going on out there in Illinois. Maybe DH and I should consider moving to the Midwest. :) We are looking to get the heck out of the big city and out of California, but he keeps telling me that we can't move until we can find jobs. Unfortunately, as an electrical engineer, jobs in rural areas are pretty hard to come by. Not too much call for semiconductor design experience in an area devoted to agriculture, timber/lumber, tourism, etc. That "little" reality of life seems to be the biggest thing holding up our move.
Posted by: Kasey on October 12, 2006 09:06 AM