That doesn’t mean autumn decorators, who are showing up now, will have to go elsewhere. Patsy Lineberger said she’s ready for them. “We have plenty for our customers,” she said.
But those who often buy in bulk may come up short, she said. Churches and day cares often scoop up armloads of small pumpkins for children’s activities. Lineberger said this year she may have to turn some of those buyers away. The local farm has also prided itself on 100-pound pumpkins — or even bigger specimens — in years past.
Lineberger said her husband planted three rows of the giant variety this year. Only one of those huge pumpkins made it through the season. That one is not for sale but is at the pumpkin patch so people can pose with it for pictures, Patsy Lineberger said. The Linebergers grow the majority of the pumpkins that come out of Gaston County, according to Daniel Shires with the N.C. Cooperative Extension Service.
Pumpkins and other crops in that family have had a tough time because of the rain, he said. Squash, cantaloupe and cucumbers all suffered, he said. On the other hand, some crops thrived this season. Corn, hay and soybeans have done well, Shires said. Crops react to heavy rain differently, he explained.
Vegetables and fruit often absorb the rain. The produce can lose flavor and sometimes burst as a result. Crop disease also thrives in wet environments, Shires said. Still, the peach crop did well, and muscadines are ready for the picking at Maple Springs Farm, said Patsy Lineberger.
But she’s mostly focused on pumpkins right now, preparing for the first school group to come through Friday. Pumpkin prices range from $1 to $12 at the local farm, and the stand is open seven days a week. Lineberger said she’s glad to still have a crop to sell and she’s happy things seem to have dried off. “You need rain but you don’t need it every day,” she said.
You can reach Diane Turbyfill at 704-869-1817 and twitter.com/GazetteDiane.Did you know?
Eighty percent of the pumpkin supply in the United States is available in October. Colonists sliced off pumpkin tops, removed seeds and filled the insides with milk, spices and honey. That was baked in hot ashes and is the origin of pumpkin pie. Native Americans flattened strips of pumpkins, dried them and made mats.
Pumpkins range in size from less than a pound to more than 1,000 pounds. The largest pumpkin ever grown weighed 1,140 pounds. Pumpkins are 90 percent water. The largest pumpkin pie ever made was more than 5 feet in diameter and weighed more than 350 pounds. It used 80 pounds of cooked pumpkin, 36 pounds of sugar, 12 dozen eggs and took six hours to bake.
Source: University of Illinois
Want to go? What: Maple Springs Farm Where: 906 Dallas-Stanley Highway, Dallas When: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday; and 1 to 6 p.m. Sunday Questions: Call 922-8688