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It's funny how traditions start, especially in families. I started off taking my daughter on trips while she was in Junior High - especially for her birthdays, as I felt that travel broadens the mind and deepens the soul - plus people who can travel together without inflicting bodily harm on each other do grow closer. 
So today, 20 years later - it's now a family of five when we load up for our mutual birthday trips.
It was also over 20 years ago that I started growing more pumpkins and other gourds in the farm family garden, larger numbers and more variety, which we used to decorate yards in the family and even for neighbors when they weren't looking. When my daughter became a teacher, we decorated her classroom and shared with kids, etc. I quit farming about 10 years ago, and since I have to buy these now to continue - I have cut back to her house, classroom, and a just a few for my house, but we meet in Pumpkin City USA (Floydada TX) to load up over a pickup load every September.
This year was a challenge, tho. I had not allowed for the crop delays from this summers weather, and when we got to our usual suppliers stand - she hadn't brought any Jack-o-lanterns in yet. We didn't want to disappoint the grand kids nor make another trip back, so I started calling other growers who might be willing to sell in small wholesale lots on a Sunday. Over and over I heard "Nope, all we have picked are committed to trucks coming in tomorrow," until we got to the Red Barn.
I'd seen this structure near this lovely house many times driving by over the years, but had no idea what they did in it at harvest time. Not your typical farm barn at all. I'll come back to that, tho. I politely caught a busy young farmer running around loading and supervising, explained my situation, and he said he had truck commitments, too - but if we wanted to gather our own, we could do so. I knew he was being awfully nice about this, as a tourist picker would go thru a field picking only the nicest ones, rather than taking all that were marketable, and - to an extent we may have as well, but we tried to be nice about it. He did come down on a four-wheeler and check on us once, and I guess he thought we weren't making too much of a mess.
With my daughter's pickup loaded, we returned to the Barn, where we moved a few to mine for my house and made room for specialty pumpkins and other gourds: a few Cinderellas, a few bags of miniatures, etc. It was also nice to tour the Barn, play with the miniature pumpkin fetching dogs, and view a artist's magnificent gourd painting work. She said it was fine to take pics, which is a little unusual for an artist of this caliber, but we did buy a few pieces of her work too - the $10 pieces, not the $300 items. Gawd, they were worth it, tho.
I'll include a link to her web site here, as you really got to see what she does Changing of the Gourds , and include a link to the slide show. There's less than a hundred this time, but as always - let me suggest going to the album, selecting slide show, then select Fast. I just couldn't delete any family pics, so there is some redundancy.
Oh yes, I did gather half of the load, while shooting pics as well as get to pay for the load. And notice my granddaughter's purple platypus & baby I got her recently - she calls it Barney, too...
Enjoy.... The Pic Album
So today, 20 years later - it's now a family of five when we load up for our mutual birthday trips.It was also over 20 years ago that I started growing more pumpkins and other gourds in the farm family garden, larger numbers and more variety, which we used to decorate yards in the family and even for neighbors when they weren't looking. When my daughter became a teacher, we decorated her classroom and shared with kids, etc. I quit farming about 10 years ago, and since I have to buy these now to continue - I have cut back to her house, classroom, and a just a few for my house, but we meet in Pumpkin City USA (Floydada TX) to load up over a pickup load every September.
This year was a challenge, tho. I had not allowed for the crop delays from this summers weather, and when we got to our usual suppliers stand - she hadn't brought any Jack-o-lanterns in yet. We didn't want to disappoint the grand kids nor make another trip back, so I started calling other growers who might be willing to sell in small wholesale lots on a Sunday. Over and over I heard "Nope, all we have picked are committed to trucks coming in tomorrow," until we got to the Red Barn.
I'd seen this structure near this lovely house many times driving by over the years, but had no idea what they did in it at harvest time. Not your typical farm barn at all. I'll come back to that, tho. I politely caught a busy young farmer running around loading and supervising, explained my situation, and he said he had truck commitments, too - but if we wanted to gather our own, we could do so. I knew he was being awfully nice about this, as a tourist picker would go thru a field picking only the nicest ones, rather than taking all that were marketable, and - to an extent we may have as well, but we tried to be nice about it. He did come down on a four-wheeler and check on us once, and I guess he thought we weren't making too much of a mess.
With my daughter's pickup loaded, we returned to the Barn, where we moved a few to mine for my house and made room for specialty pumpkins and other gourds: a few Cinderellas, a few bags of miniatures, etc. It was also nice to tour the Barn, play with the miniature pumpkin fetching dogs, and view a artist's magnificent gourd painting work. She said it was fine to take pics, which is a little unusual for an artist of this caliber, but we did buy a few pieces of her work too - the $10 pieces, not the $300 items. Gawd, they were worth it, tho.
I'll include a link to her web site here, as you really got to see what she does Changing of the Gourds , and include a link to the slide show. There's less than a hundred this time, but as always - let me suggest going to the album, selecting slide show, then select Fast. I just couldn't delete any family pics, so there is some redundancy.
Oh yes, I did gather half of the load, while shooting pics as well as get to pay for the load. And notice my granddaughter's purple platypus & baby I got her recently - she calls it Barney, too...
Enjoy.... The Pic Album
