Picking pumpkins
Purdum’s patch provides plenty of pumpkins for your picking pleasure
By Sean Hart
Argus Observer
Sunday, October 19, 2008 1:49 AM PDT
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| Candis Bayes, Nu Acres, brought her children, 4-year-old Mattie (from left), 2-year-old Hap and 8-month-old Annie, to the patch at Purdum’s Produce to pick the perfect pumpkin. Many varieties ” colors, shapes and sizes ” will be available for 15 cents per pound at the produce stand, situated on U.S. Highway 30 and Elmore in Fruitland, until it closes after Halloween. |
FRUITLAND ” With Halloween around the corner, families from around the valley are preparing their decorations ” cobwebs, corn stalks and, of course, pumpkins.
To make the pumpkin-picking process easier, more personal and fun in and of itself, a local produce stand has created a family-friendly environment that allows children and parents the opportunity to peruse a diverse patch of the soon-to-be jack-o’-lanterns and a variety of other fall-themed decorations.
“We’ve probably had the pumpkin patch 10 years,” Robyn Purdum, owner of Purdum’s Produce, said. “There are about 30 different kinds (of pumpkins). We have orange ones, white ones, red ones, gray ones ” and all shapes and sizes.”
The produce stand, situated at U.S. Highway 30 and Elmore, Fruitland, opens in mid-July each year and offers a collection of local produce, including 30 different kinds of peppers and an assortment of fruits and vegetables, and closes down for the year after Oct. 31. The stand is open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day.
“The pumpkin patch has been a main hit that we have,” Fruitland resident Ali Frates, an employee at the stand, said Thursday at a slowdown in action between the several groups of students there choosing pumpkins.
The actual plot of pumpkins is a short distance from the payment stand, but tractors pulling straw bale-lined trailers offer rides to and from the pumpkin patch to make hauling in a giant one possible.
Purdum said the whole pumpkin-picking process is a good family activity, and families that were there agreed.
“It’s wonderful,” Bonnie Cronquist, Emmett, who was at the patch for the second year in a row, said Thursday. “It’s a great family place. It gives the kids a good opportunity to come out and play and pick out their own (pumpkin).”
Parents also have the opportunity to take more than pumpkins and other Halloween decorations ” such as gourds, corn stalks, ornamental corn and straw bales ” from the produce stand. Photo opportunities exist, both in the pumpkin patch and in several areas decorated just for that purpose, to make the experience a memorable one.
Pumpkins are sold for 15 cents per pound at Purdum’s Produce, and the good time is free.
“It’s a lot of fun,” Purdum said of running the pumpkin patch. “It’s a lot of work, but it’s a lot of fun. We enjoy dealing with the public and trying to give them a good product.”
