Tending the Spirit of Harvests Past

The sights and smells that once marked the cycle of the autumn harvest in the San Fernando Valley have long since given way to a suburban experience.

Yet, amid the stucco and concrete, one can still take a wistful trip back in time. A trip to an open space where children (or the child in us all) can lose themselves in a pile of leaves or let their imaginations go as they stand nearly motionless in an orange sea of pumpkins.

Joe Cicero, who has been farming in the Valley since the 1960s, remembers when farms here stood on vast acreage--not on small lots. He remembers when kids had plenty of room to run. He has seen their world, and his, steadily shrink.

This year, Cicero and pony-ride doyenne Linda Menary lost a lease to run their popular pumpkin patch, vegetable stand and petting zoo at its traditional spot at Pierce College.

Down but not out, the team moved their popular attraction to a six-acre lot at Winnetka and Parthenia avenues in August.

Like in the old days, kids can still touch the animals. They can wander around the pumpkin patch. They can taste Cicero’s home-grown fruits and vegetables. They can appreciate this special time of year.

With Halloween approaching, it will be a busy time at the new Cicero farm--things are so busy they have had to bring in pumpkins from Cicero’s larger farm in Saugus.

Nonetheless, life on the farm goes on long after the autumnal hues disappear. Amid suburban sprawl and mini-malls, it is hoped there will still be enclaves where the spirit of the harvest is alive and well. Where we can peer into the past by simply staring out into a fertile patch of dirt.