Last May my husband had this great idea, “Let’s plant a pumpkin patch!” he said. So, like most of his ideas, I tell him he’s crazy and then execute the plan and end up really happy I went along with it. The kids and I spent a few hours spreading out a mountain of dirt and planting seedlings we just grabbed at our local garden center. We planted five seedlings, hoping we’d get enough pumpkins for ourselves and a few friends.

The process for growing them was simple. We hooked up soaker hoses to our nearest hose bib and every couple days I’d run the drip in the evening for a couple hours. Some days I’d forget, some days I ran it for more time. I didn’t keep track, even though I figured I probably should. It was beginner’s luck for sure, they took off! We had been told by everyone in the area that the soil on our property would be amazing to grow in. We also have the benefit of a local beekeepers bees pollinating to their heart’s content.

We were thrilled when we discovered towards the end of September that we had perfectly sized, beautiful pumpkins ready to harvest! Once again, the kids and I held a work day and with a lot of teamwork, we harvested just over 200 pumpkins! We were in awe! What would we do with all of these pumpkins? I started posting in our local community’s Facebook group that we had pumpkins to sell. I posted on my personal Facebook profile and took loads to work to sell; before we knew it we were sold out! We didn’t sell them for much, about $2 a pumpkin, but the money was a huge addition to the kids’ 4-H fund. The money helped them pay for their registration for 4-H this year and will also help out with animal expenses.

May will be here again before we know it! We are planning now for a bigger, more diverse pumpkin patch! Who knows, perhaps someday our open acreage will end up being a pumpkin patch?

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