Fall Season

It's that time of year when we put away the beach towels and turn to sweatshirts.  The leaves are changing and in some parts of the country frosty mornings are already appearing.  Without a doubt, one of the most popular trademarks of the season are pumpkins. Everywhere you turn, you're faced with all things pumpkin: from pies to the famous pumpkin spice latte. Virtually every store has big bins of bright orange pumpkins proudly on display outside the front door.

Pumpkins are around for such a short period of time but the process involved in getting pumpkins from the field to your front porch is a much lengthier one.  Matthew Campbell with Campbell Farms, who grows over 300 acres of pumpkins in eastern Pennsylvania, says his season starts in May in order to have their pumpkins ready for the fall harvest.  His family owned farm is responsible for getting pumpkins to a majority of Sam's Club's and Walmart's in the north east. He said last season they lost some of their crop due to heavy rain, but luckily this year the yield is looking much better.

While the season may be short for consumers, we seem to make the best of it by carving, decorating, cooking, and not to mention competing. Guinness Book of World Records has 10 categories involving pumpkins: one being the largest pumpkin, which currently stands at 2009 lbs.  In the last decade, hurling pumpkins has also become a popular annual competition; one event aired on the science channel is the World Championship Punkin Chunkin.  On September 9, 2010 a pneumatic cannon named "Big 10 Inch"  launched a pumpkin 5,545 feet!

In just a week or so, pumpkins will be gone and the focus will be on all things Christmas.  But when you go to the store and see those bins of pumpkins sitting out front, consider the hard work and effort your local farmer, broker, and trucker put in to make sure that you are able to carry on with one of falls' most treasured traditions.