Summer almost gone, Autumn on it's way

As I sit here and sift through the multitude of mind numbing tv series marathons that are the gift of the labor day weekend, I can hardly believe that summer is almost over and school will be starting up again next week. Actually, it will only be starting for one out of three, since DD has graduated high school by the grace of god, but not in time to secure college funding for this fall. I am hoping to find some kind of certificate or adult school program to keep her occupied until we get both accommodations and funding for next semester. Truly, it's probably best that she concentrates on therapy now that she's about to re-enter a class room for the first time in seven years. My six year old has not yet been evaluated for the extent of his autism, so I will not even try to find a program for him. Safety is a major concern for any kind of on site program he might be suited for; he is definitely the wandering off type. So my firstborn 15 year old is now "entering" high school, and we have SOME good news on that front. I am going to save that for my next post.

Beyond my disbelief that summer is gone, I really look forward to the autumn. When I was growing up near Philly, it was always my favorite season, and that hasn't changed since we've moved back here. The weather is the nicest, a welcome relief from the humidity of July and August, and the leaves changing colors in the trees is a breathtaking display of beauty in these parts. Pumpkin patch season begins in September, and goes beyond Halloween. I LOVE Halloween, and I love pumpkin patches too, now more than ever. October is my favorite month out of the year, the least of which reasons is that it contains my birthday. But all the best free events for the kids seem to occur around that time, the libraries and art association and churches and commercial farms and the malls explode with kid friendly activities, most of which are inclusionary. I mean, out of the five million things to choose from, I can always find something for my asperger triplets (44, 15, and 6) as well as OCD girl. It sort of sounds like a super hero group, but anyway, the fun is everywhere.

Here is one of my old blogs from last year about how the new owners turned my grandmother's farm into a pumpkin patch; it is very aspie and kid friendly, and we will try to make it back every year:

START

Today my DH and I took the kids up to see my grandmother's farm. More appropriately, it was better known as my grandfather's farm, since he was the one who worked it back before he retired and rented out the farming acres. What my grandmother loved more than anything about the farm were the non-field acres, about thirty odd acres of woods. We are talking the kind of tree groupings that block out the sun. She actually had to weed them out every so often as they matured, and brought in a lumber company to do it. There were trails through those woods, and they were a source of delight to children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. The woods were great for berry picking, and target practice to those in the clan with hunting licenses. But more than anything, the woods were the perfect sanctuary to the birds that my grandmother loved almost as much as members of her family. We would walk back there in singles or groups, but someone almost always was carrying a pair of binoculars around their necks.

After my grandfather died in 1981, my grandmother continued to rent out the farming acres. But she wouldn't let anyone touch those trees. My grandfather had already sold off a few large portions of the original acres long before to fellow farmers until he and my grandmother were down to under ninety acres, and that's how it remained until her death in March 2005. Some of the sold off acres eventually made it into hands of real estate developers, and as a staunch pro agriculture advocate, my grandmother had many discussions over the years pertaining to how best preserve her remaining land as farm.

I was not privy to, nor did I ask, about how she finally accomplished this. I know if I asked one of my uncles, they could tell me about an arrangement she made with the government and in her will to encumber the land as a farm after her passing. But it seems like any government deals can change over time, and it was still with some sorrow that the estate was probated and the farm was sold to new owners.

Well if my grandmother was standing next to us today, I know that she would tell me that she couldn't be more pleased. Not only was the farm sold to a nearby farming family, they have turned it into a publicly accessible Pumpkin Patch and Christmas Tree Farm. 2006 was their debut year for the pumpkins, and since my sister was here from Los Angeles last year visiting in October, it seemed like the perfect tourist attraction. I have pix from that trip posted on Flickr, guess it's time to upload them here as well. God bless my sister who had her camera handy that day, we were using a new camera, and accidently erased all the pics we had from that day. I was crushed. But her photos were great and I will post them along with all the pix I took today.

They had even more attractions this time around. The weather was beautiful today (we are having summer in October, truly) as we pulled into the parking lot around 5 pm of Clark's Pick-Your-Own Pumpkin Patch. As we parked in the yard behind grandma's house, I saw my old tractor tire sand box propped up against a tree. This perked me up immensely, don't ask me why. The new residents of the house have been very busy, there were beautiful new windows and a sharp looking new roof.

We immediately got on the hay ride, D loves riding behind the tractors and he's been looking forward to it all year. The tractor pulled us down to the neighboring fields where they had not only a large field of pumpkins, but had also plowed out a three acre corn maze. DH and the kids took the video camera into the maze while I stayed behind and chatted with the young lady manning the booth. She told me she and her bf Joe Clark were the ones living at the house and doing all the rehab work. I think she was afraid that I would be offended at how they had to gut the house. I assured her that we were well aware of how much the house had deteriorated over the years as it became very taxing for my grandmother to undertake large repair projects in her most senior years.

I know my grandmother would be very pleased that not only was the farm transformed into a working agricultural concern, but they are tree planters! In addition to the pumpkins, the real business is fir trees. In fact, even though it is only the first week of October, the pumpkins are already in low supply. I hope Clark's is very popular for years to come, and that any locals reading this blog will get down there to show them some love. We plan to make this a yearly trip, or two, as long as we stay in Pennsylvania.

We will try hard to prepare our house to accommodate a real, normal size Christmas tree this year so we can go back and pick out our fir. Tree farmers! I couldn't ask for a more fitting legacy to my grandmother, the bird lover. And instead of knocking down the house and starting over, they are turning it into a livable home, which I was assured was going to be used as a primary residence for years to come. In addition to the young Joe Clark who drove the tractor pulling the wagon, we saw the Sr. Clark walking his dog around and driving his own tractor around the house and fields.

D wanted a tiny pumpkin, but T told me that this year he wanted to carve a jack o lantern. Well he picked out almost the largest pumpkin they had in the field, so I'm pretty sure he will be able to carve a face on two sides. He could hardly carry it onto the tractor wagon, and when we got back off at the main area, we needed a wagon to take it up to the scales.

The kids all had a great time, and DD and I got to indulge in a deep espisode of nostalgia as we are both previous residents of the farm at differing periods of time, as well as life long fans. I had a hard time leaving, but I really really enjoyed myself. How many people get such a gift?

END

Sadly, I have heard from my cousins that the remaining acreage around the farm was sold to mushroom farmers. Technically this meets the encumberances on the land as pertains to agricultural use, but anyone who is familiar with mushroom farming knows what challenges that may bring to continuing the pumpkin and christmas tree business. The odor of mushroom fertilizer is potent like no other smell I can think of; an extremely gaseous methane kind of scent that gives people headaches and offends worse than skunk. I'm not sure if the laying of mushroom fertilizer coicides with the harvest of pumpkins and fir trees, but if so, I have a feeling business will decline for the latter. As my cousin said "I wish they had sold the land to real estate developers instead."