A sea of pumpkins greets customers at Fall events
Pumpkins, in all sizes, shapes, and colors, are headlining the vegetable scene now, as they do every year, the unofficial symbols of the Fall season. A mascot of harvest time, pumpkins are seen at festivals, often centered around the pumpkins as star attractions, especially around Halloween and Thanksgiving.
Valerie Nalls, of Nalls Produce in Franconia, which surely has every possible type of pumpkin or gourd you can imagine, can not say the number of pumpkins they have on site or their total weight. She describes the amount as “immense.” In preparation for their 30 year tradition of highlighting pumpkins, pumpkins begin showing up in small numbers in August, then arrive in large numbers the second week of September. Nalls says a lot come from southern areas of Pennsylvania, around Harrisburg and Lancaster County; others from Maryland, southwest Virginia, and as far as from Illinois. They will make up Nalls’ Pumpkin Hill, a free entertainment area for children; and their Pumpkin Wall, which highlights heirloom pumpkins, providing a photo backdrop.
Customers purchase pumpkins for a wide variety of uses. A type of winter squash, pumpkins are a popular culinary tradition for making pies, soups, baked goods and even coffee flavoring. Pulp, seeds and shells are used.
Many pumpkins will live a second life, becoming traditional Jack-o’-Lanterns to decorate tables or porches, lending a scary element to Halloween trick or treating.
Harvesting a pumpkin crop is labor intensive effort. Pumpkins must be individually hand-picked and placed in cardboard bins, and stored, protected from moisture and the elements, in a dry place. Nalls shares that, at least so far, they have not experienced any lack of pumpkin availability due to farm issues with lack of workers related to immigration enforcement; perhaps because they deal with small farms. She shares that they have seen an up-tick in the number of families visiting their attractions. She attributes the increased number visiting during the week to the government shutdown. She says Nalls is especially pleased to provide a free family-oriented event that can be enjoyed outside together while families may be concerned about their financial situations.
While pumpkins are a 30-year tradition at Nalls, they have an even longer history in the Americas. Cultivation of pumpkins is believed to have begun over 7,500 years ago in Central America, with the first seeds found in Mexico. In North America, Native Americans used them as essential parts of their diet. The shells were dried for use as containers, and the seeds were a source of oil. Europeans discovered pumpkins in the Americas and took them back to introduce to Europe.
7310 Beulah St. Alexandria, VA; 703-971-4068
https://nallsproduce.com/