The older I get the faster time seems to fly by. It seems like only yesterday when I started penning my “Cultivating Thoughts” column, and here we are already entering my fourth fall season.
I have said before that autumn is my favorite season (although at my age, every season is good). That first faint smell of woodsmoke on a cool evening and the panorama of fall foliage that decorates the mountains – and of course the first frost on the pumpkin – signals the end of the growing season for many farming operations and a winding down on the farm in preparation for winter.
Autumn is still a very active time as farmers harvest a cornucopia of fall crops such as root crops (carrots, beets, parsnips, turnips and rutabagas), broccoli, cauliflower, green, red and Savoy cabbages, the last plantings of warm season crops such as sweet corn, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and summer squashes and a host of winter squashes. A large variety of pumpkins are harvested for eye-catching displays. Each customer is looking for that special pumpkin for carving and a slew of small decorative pumpkins for a decorative arrangement on the dinner table, along with a wide variety of types and sizes of gourds. Autumn is the last big push to capture the consuming public’s dollar before most folks go into hibernation for the winter months.
Now, that is not the case for all growers as some are contemplating participating in a winter market and may be incorporating high tunnel production in their mix. My friend and vegetable specialist Dr. Matt Kleinhenz from Ohio State says that a high tunnel acts like a refrigerator for certain types of vegetables grown in them in winter. You can continue to harvest certain mature crops throughout the winter months.
Autumn is also a time when agritainment seems to flourish, with a wide variety of corn mazes and petting zoos and a variety of other activities that can involve the whole family. People come out for hayrides into the field to pick their pumpkins and enjoy apple cider – and maybe even harvest their own Christmas tree later in the season.
It is a time for growers to take advantage of the autumn season and harvest the consuming public’s dollar before starting to think about winter – and think about opportunities for renewal and attending a host of available educational programs and trade shows around the country. Fall allows growers to display their artistic talents with signage, painted pumpkins and arrangement of produce based on textures, colors, shapes and other attributes.
As an ag economist once told me, you want to maintain the country favor of your market but keep it professional. (In other words, do not misspell words on your signage thinking that it’s cute.)
Also, fall displays can catch people’s eyes as they are traveling down the road. When I was first cutting my teeth in Extension in North Carolina, I conducted a large pumpkin trial and had some of the early white skin-colored pumpkins. They really caught people’s attention and later led to my developing the “Casper the Friendly Pumpkin” for farm displays. At that time, most of the pumpkins produced in North Carolina were the Big Max-type of pumpkins (a large variety of the species Cucurbita maxima that can exceed 150 lbs. under ideal growing conditions). They are often bright in color, with fine-grained, yellow-orange flesh.
Another interesting fact was the timing of planting pumpkins in North Carolina. Still thinking like I was in Pennsylvania, I brought my first on-farm grower trial of pumpkins to market on the Fourth of July. Try selling pumpkins in early July. Maybe some red, white and blue pumpkins would fit the bill.
We have talked about the hectic schedule that a grower deals with from early spring through the depth of the summer months to the final push in the fall season. Once that the autumn season is over, growers can begin to take a deep breath and look for some large regional commodity meetings – such as Great Lakes Expo in Michigan (Dec. 10 – 12) or the Mid-Atlantic Fruit & Vegetable Convention in Hershey, PA (Jan. 28 – 30, 2025). There are many state meetings located across the country as well where growers can partake of excellent educational sessions and have a chance to visit with fellow growers.
Having been involved with organizing meetings throughout my career and having had the opportunity to speak at a large majority of the commodity meetings nationwide, I know that they provide excellent opportunities for growers to hear about the latest technologies and to learn the latest control measures for diseases, insect pests and weeds that are always causing problems.
It seems from the final fall push to preparation for next season that the time just flies by. It seems that the time goes faster and faster each passing year. I believe it’s important to take some down time to relax and put one’s mind into neutral and just let it spin free. Each person has their own way to do that. I have done this since I was a boy. I would lie on the ground in late fall when the big puffy clouds would dot the sky and block the sun from time to time, creating periods of warmth and cold. My mind would be in neutral, and I enjoyed feeling the energy of the earth under me and the warmth and cold cycling. It was like I was plugged into the earth and recharging my battery.
The final push in autumn is like sprinting to the finish line, crossing the tape and throwing one’s arms up and yelling “We made it another year!”
You can contact me with feedback on my columns or ideas for future columns at wlamont@psu.edu.