Pumpkin Season Ending

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Created on Wednesday, 29 October 2014 20:25
Written by Ryan Rutledge

pumpkinsNORTHEAST KINGDOM - Halloween is getting closer by the hour and with that, so is the end of pumpkin season all over New England and the Northeast Kingdom.


How did the season fare for local farmers? According to Greg Burtt of Burtt's apple orchard in Cabot, it went well.


"We did a lot better than last year, this might have been our best year yet for sales for the apple orchard at the stand," Burtt said, "We don't really keep track of both [pumpkin and orchard sales], they're separate but I'm guessing this has been one of our best years seeing how many pumpkins there were and how few are left."


Sales stayed relatively steady for both apple and pumpkin picking for the with supplies running low fairly quickly. "We ran out of apples October 5th, and pumpkins were mostly gone last week," Burtt said.

However, at the McDonald Farm in Danville, pumpkin growth was a little slower than normal, but not as bad as what happened two short years ago according to Gilly Beattie, the owner of the farm, "Our pumpkin patch didn't germinate as well as it did in past years, and the year before last we lost about a quarter of our crop to deer. They got into the patch and ate a lot of them. So you never know what you're gonna get."


Even with the germination problems the Danville farm still managed to sell almost all of their crop over the past month. They managed to sell 60 or so pallets full of pumpkins they had on the farm.

Now naturally, when one thinks of pumpkins one thinks of Halloween and jack-o-lanterns illuminating porch steps along streets with a soft glow. Thom Costello, a father of two and a customer at the Mcdonald farm recalled why he loves to bring his children pumpkin picking. "Just the joy in their eyes and in their faces, and just watching them run around trying to pick out what one they like the most."

Of course, carving pumpkins has been a time honored tradition with families for ages. However, for those with young children, the task does present some challenges. Costello offered his own strategy to carving with young children.


"I always just cut it open for them and let them draw the picture on it, then if they wanna do [some carving], I'll let them do a little bit of it but usually I'll just work the knife ... just simple knife safety."
So be sure to prepare your jack-o-lanterns now for when trick or treaters turn up this friday.