Patch Work : Autumn: Picking just the right pumpkin takes time and attention to such details as hue, stem angle, shape and size.
Not all pumpkins are created equal.
Place any 10 people in a patch of the fleshy orange gourds and they will scatter, each returning with a personal favorite.
“It has to have a stem,” said Jennifer Adams, 5, of Simi Valley. She and sister Danielle spent Sunday afternoon picking out pumpkins as their parents pushed them in a wheelbarrow through a field of squash at Santa Paula’s historic Faulkner Farms.
“It has to be pretty and round,” added Danielle, 7.
They both agreed a pumpkin “can’t be dirty.”
“And it can’t be soft. No mush,” Jennifer decreed, purveying the selection of squash from the wheelbarrow.
While Southern California lacks the bright foliage and crisp weather of more northern latitudes, one traditional fall staple is found in abundance--pumpkins.
Pumpkins rule October in Ventura County. Each year, about 35,000 people tromp through the Faulkner Farm’s pumpkin patch alone, according to Lin Ayers, co-owner of the farm.
They drive from the San Fernando Valley, Pasadena and from throughout Ventura County to pay their respects to the favorite vegetable of Linus, from the Peanuts comic strip.
“We come here every year,” said Alex Topete, who made the seasonal pilgrimage with 23 family members who live in the Valley. “It’s a family tradition. We got four wheelbarrows full of pumpkins.”
While the pumpkin-appreciative may admire gourds as a whole, they tend to be particular when it comes to opening their wallets. After an hour’s drive, they are not about to pack up the kids and leave without finding the perfect pumpkin.
First there’s the visual sweep of the patch. Then a superficial pre-selection where a number of gourds are clumped together and judged. The contenders are rolled, sniffed, inspected for blemishes, hue, circularity and stem formation.
Most agree that the stem is a priority, preferably one that angles off with a picture-perfect 45-degree twist.
Size is also a crucial variable. Like Goldilocks, pumpkin aficionados are careful to pick a pumpkin that isn’t too big or too small, but just right.
Brian Galas of Eagle Rock likes them big and bulbous, big enough to carve out with a shovel.
“I like them in the 70-pound range,” he said. “It takes four people to carry it up to our porch, but the neighborhood kids are really impressed.”
Sometimes cautious pumpkin picking skills are not innate, and must be taught.
“This one. Or how about this one?” 3-year-old Nicholas said to his mother, Mary Sweeney of Westlake Village.
“No, no, no,” said a gently disapproving Sweeney of her son’s rush to judgment. “That one doesn’t even have a stem on it. Try to pick a nice round one. It’s important not to pick the first one you see.”
Nicholas was confused. Too much going on. Too many pumpkins. Too many kids. And oh, look at those pretty horses. . . .
“What about this one, Mommy?” he said, pointing at a stemless poseur, sitting awkwardly on its ill-formed belly. “What about this one?”
Andy Engel of Ojai sat on one large pumpkin, surveying the ritual with his wife and young daughter.
“What if someone from outer space landed and saw all these people wandering around these orange blobs?” he said. “What would they think?”
Bonnie Liedtke of Studio City wasn’t sure either, but she wasn’t about to sacrifice one of the few autumnal rites one can observe in Southern California.
“When you live in a region where the only difference between fall and summer is the start of the fire season, you learn to love pumpkins and not ask a whole lot of questions,” she said.
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FYI
Pumpkins may be purchased at dozens of roadside stands throughout Ventura County, as well as at the following farms:
* Faulkner Farms, Briggs and Telegraph roads, near Santa Paula.
* Tierra Rejada Ranch, 3370 Moorpark Road, Moorpark.
* Boccali Ranch, California 150, between Ojai and Santa Paula.
* McGrath Street Pumpkin Patch, Knoll Drive and Valentine Road, Ventura.
