Favorable fall weather and unusual amounts of summer rain may have balanced out for local pumpkin patches.
Rogers Farm, 3831 NW 156th Ave., has produced locally in years past, but this year, it had to ship in pumpkins from Mississippi due to excess rain during this year’s growing season.
“We normally grow our own pumpkins,” said Earline Rogers, whose husband owns Rogers Farm. “The soil is too wet for the seeds to grow this year.”
But Rogers said the patch still seems to be thriving with customers.
The values of pumpkins harvested from the six top producing states totalled $113 million, according to a U.S. Census press release.
Megan Bultemeier, the youth director at the First United Methodist Church of Alachua, 14805 NW 140th St., said business is booming at the church’s pumpkin patch.
She said it seemed to be doing slightly better than last year.
“The weather has been nice this year, and I think that has helped,” Bultemeier said.
So far, the church’s patch has received two shipments totaling about 3,500 pumpkins, ranging from 50 cents to $35. She said pumpkins range in variety, too.
“Our pumpkins come in all shapes and sizes,” Bultemeier said. One was so large that “one youth could not fit their arms around it themselves,” she said.
A version of this story ran on page 1 on 10/23/2013 under the headline "Local pumpkin patches selling strong despite rain"
