Fall is Coming

The heat is up. The humidity is up. The sweat is coming down. It’s been a tough week out in the field. The greenhouse thermometer hit 113 and later today sounds like it might break that! The peppers are hanging in there! We are still picking just about everything that we grow. Most plants don’t really like excessive heat so some of the tomatoes and corn have slowed production slightly. Don’t worry, we still have plenty at the store!

What I am looking forward to most right now are the pumpkins! We have started to find some pretty good sized green pumpkins out in the field so things are looking promising. I did actually pick a few of the early pie pumpkins (smaller) that we planted which are now available at the store in small quantities. Have any of you ever scarred a pumpkin? We used to do it in our pumpkin patch back home when I was growing up. Basically you wait for the point just before a pumpkin starts to turn orange and you draw on it with a knife or pen. Something that will just barely cut through the skin, but don’t take it off the vine! Then, as the pumpkin finishes up its growing cycle, the wound will heal and form a scar! I was hesitant to even say that I was trying this because I’m not very good at it. I didn’t want to talk about how cool scarring is and then have to show you my kindergarten-esk artwork when the pumpkins come in… But I’ll take the chance. Maybe one of you out there has a pumpkin patch and might like to try it. Here are a few examples that I got from the internet from people who are actually artistic!

It really does look nice if done correctly! I think some fancier people even use a Dremel tool! I’m low tech and stick with my pocket knife. The best part of scarring is finding your pumpkin again when it’s ripe. Usually you forget where it is in the field and have to stumble upon it while picking! Makes for a nice little surprise.