TOWN OF NAVARINO, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – As the fall season continues, many are starting to carve out some time to pick that perfect pumpkin or pumpkins.
At a lot of places, the big orange gourds are ripe and ready to go.
At Porter’s Patch farm in the Town of Navarino, some signs of the season fill the field.
“Our crop, I mean, it’s not bad. I would say maybe just a tad below average. We had a dry period, and it seemed like a lot of our big-sized pumpkins didn’t really size up to where they should have been,” said Troy Porter, Porter’s Patch Owner.
Porter tells FOX 11 some pumpkins are smaller than usual, but there are thousands on the Shawano County site.
“It’s really hard to say, but I’m glad we got a lot of pumpkins. Sometimes you just don’t get the optimum growing conditions.”
About 50 miles to the east at Hillside Apples near Casco, owner Bill Roethle grows about 15 varieties at the Kewaunee County farm. He says he planted many of his pumpkins during a warm spell in June.
“Then the early part of summer was hot too. So, pumpkins like it hot, and they grow well. So, they started turning a little earlier than probably we like. But the numbers were plenty. We had a lot of pumpkins to work with.”
Back at Porter’s Patch the seasonal weekend celebration known as Farmtoberfest continues. It’s scheduled to run each Saturday and Sunday through Oct. 30.
Porter says, depending on the weather and the crowds, he should have enough pumpkins to go around.
