When I go to a pumpkin patch, I have a certain set of criteria that my choice has to meet.
Let’s face it, picking the right pumpkin is a big decision. Everyone has their idea of the perfect pumpkin, and I’m no different.
For me, it starts with the color. Its got to be a certain shade of bright orange and there can’t be any green on it. I enjoy a nice shade of green, but not on my pumpkin – unless you’re talking about the handle.
Because I definitely want a nice rich-green handle that’s thick and sturdy, with a little curve to it.
Well-defined ridges are a bonus, and I like ones that are in that middle range in size, with a roundish physique. It can’t look too perfect.
So on my trip to Rossview Farm, after my reporting duties were sufficiently met, I ventured out into the pick-your-own patch in search of a new ornament for my front steps. It may be carved eventually, but I’ll figure that out when it gets closer to Halloween.
Although finding the right one was easier said than done. If you haven’t been up to the Rossview pumpkin patch yet, there are a lot of pumpkins. I’m talking hundreds and hundreds of orange dots in a large area – at least when I was there middle of last week.
I began zig-zagging around the field, and mind you I was the only one there, so I had free rein of the entire place.
I found one early on that was promising, but I wasn’t about to lug it around the entire patch. I figured I’d be able to find it again, but I should have known there was no way I was going back to look for it.
I probably gave about 20 pumpkins a closer look, and of those 20, a dozen probably got investigated a little further.
Some looked great, but didn’t quite have the right handle. Others seemed good from afar, but a closer inspection showed a big flat spot.
Then I found it. It was on my way back to the front of the patch, on a different route. I looked it over at all angles, examined the stem – it met all the requirements. Of course, I kept looking, but nothing matched it.
I made the executive decision to cut off the search – I had found my pumpkin.
I was curious what this was going to weigh, and cost, since pumpkins are priced at 50 cents a pound.
It weighed a whopping 14 pounds, but that was nothing compared to the heaviest one that had been pulled out the previous weekend. Rossview keeps track and the record as of last Wednesday was 59 pounds.
Now that’s a big pumpkin.
Rossview is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the weekends.
They also have white pumpkins, pie pumpkins, New England cheddar pumpkins and butternut squash.
And just so you know, they only accept cash and checks, so leave the plastic at home.
