Recreating Spookley's Pumpkin Patch at Your Farm

Inspiration for today's blog post comes from Bob Matthews, author of The Pumpkin Nook, a website "dedicated to everything there is to know, do and say about pumpkins."  I spoke with Bob recently and he provided many great tips on how to recreate some of the beautiful variety from Spookley's pumpkin patch in Joe Troiano's The Legend of Spookley the Square Pumpkin at your farm!  Highlights from our conversation include: 

• You can play with color.  While the standard Jack-o-Lantern pumpkin is orange, there are many pumpkin seeds out there to bring color to your pumpkin patch.  There is the Rouge D'Etant, for example, which is a small, reddish-orange pumpkin, and a Casper, which is an off-white.  You can also add the Australian Blue (Jalhrude), which is a greenish blue (and maybe your pumpkin patch will start to look patriotic, too!)
• And you can play with texture and shape.  Bob's most recent e-newsletter highlighted some "wacky" pumpkins, including Peanut Pumpkins, with skin that looks like it's covered in peanuts, and Red Warty Pumpkins, which give you color and texture!  And, with any any of these pumpkin varieties, you can play with using different-shaped molds (e.g., woodenboxes, old crates) as the pumpkins grow to have them take on fun shapes.

Adding some fun color, texture, and shape to your pumpkin patch is a sure way to delight your visitors, young and old, and help create a memorable experience at your farm.

Please send photos/suggestions if you have any!
-Aaron         

Page from The Legend of Spookley the Square Pumpkin, a perennial fall-favorite children's story written by Joe Troiano