Local pumpkin patch takes root

Trevor Fritz, 8, stands amid pumpkins on his family’s patch in Fort Dick. (The Daily Triplicate/Bryant Anderson)

Driving down Morehead Road in Fort Dick, there’s the familiar scene of cattle grazing on grass that grows heartily during the wet months and fuels the agricultural community in this part of Del Norte County.

Suddenly, orange spheres dot the freshly tilled brown earth.

Just in time for Halloween, it’s an experimental pumpkin patch on about one acre at Brock Land and Cattle. Diane Brock and her family decided to try it out this year to see how well the bulbous gourds would grow on their land.

“It’s a good spot,” Brock said. “You can see it from the road and it’s easy to get to.”

Locals can stop by on the weekends when the family is home and pick up the miniature Jack-Be-Littles or a large Cinderella pumpkin at 1690 Morehead Road.

If all goes well this year, the family plans on expanding the patch to 3-5 acres and then possibly more later — they have 80 acres to play with, Brock said.

Her daughter, April,  said the experiment is a success so far. Out of 260 starts (the seeds started out in the greenhouse) planted, there are “very few dead ones,” she said.

The pumpkins were planted in early July, and the family has already learned a few lessons about growing them.

“Gophers love them,” Diane Brock said.

But they also had some help from Paul Madeira of Ocean Air Farms, which is nearby.

The family normally grows tomatoes that they sell at the Farmers Market on Saturdays. They also cut and bale hay and sell Christmas trees.

“Everyone kept asking us to,” Brock said about why the family decided to start a pumpkin patch this year, “because we have the property.”

Trevor Fritz checks out the selection at his family’s pumpkin patch. (The Daily Triplicate/Bryant Anderson)

Some people said that pumpkins wouldn’t grow well here, she said. However, Lazy Diamond Nursery, which is also in Fort Dick, had a success pumpkin patch for many years before recently deciding to stop.

Brock said she has enjoyed watching the different varieties of pumpkins pop up and seeing children run between them trying to pick the perfect pumpkin.

“It happens once a year,” she said about the small window of time to pick a pumpkin before Halloween. “It’s a traditional thing that’s fading out. I’d like to see it keep going.”

Next year when the patch is larger, the family wants to invite all local schoolchildren to pick out pumpkins.

As for this year, there’s a limited number of pumpkins and it’s first-come, first-served. Prices are based on the size of the pumpkin, up to $15, Brock said.