THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 22, 1995 TAG: 9510200194
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAWSON MILLS, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 90 lines
Linus would be proud.
Despite unfavorable weather during the growing season, area pumpkin producers and sellers report an ample supply. As the ``Peanuts'' character - who waits in a pumpkin patch each Halloween for a glimpse of The Great Pumpkin - must know, the pumpkin is to autumn what tomatoes are to summer.
A survey of area pumpkin dealers last week revealed an abundance of pumpkins great and small, decorative and pie-worthy, orange and - something new - white. On a moonlit night, the white ones look positively ghostly.
Shorty's Antiques and Produce, on East Pinner Street, at the foot of the Kingsboro Bridge in Suffolk, was our first stop. And our timing was perfect, since Shorty Brinkley and Ronnie Davis were unloading a truckload of pumpkins as we arrived.
Shorty expects to sell hundreds of them, right through Halloween. Folks started buying them, he said, the first weekend in October. He recommends the Mammoth Gold for jack-o'-lanterns, the Howden for pies. He also has cushaws, for decorating around pumpkins, turban squash (also called Turk's turbans), decorative gourds, Indian corn, dipper gourds, corn stalks, bales of hay and fall pansies and mums.
His pumpkins range from 75 cents to $10, ``about the same as last year.''
The Olde Country Store, 1237 Carolina Road, Route 13/32 South, also has caught the spirit of the season. Out front are rows of pumpkins, wooden scarecrows and black cats. Inside are ghosts, sound-activated pumpkins (clap your hands and they emit an unearthly wail), Indian corn, fall wreaths, candy corn dishes and pumpkin faces.
``Pumpkins are a big seller,'' noted clerk Susan Beasley. ``People around here like this time of year and go all out for decorating.''
Pumpkins at the Olde Country Store are $1.50 to $3.50, also about the same as last year.
If you really want to do it right and can take the time to drive a ways, the place to go is Applewhite Farms on Route 58 in Courtland. There you can pick your own: pumpkins, gourds, squash, blue hubbards, cushaws.
Jack and Theresa Applewhite play host to several thousand school children each year. They come for hay rides, pick their own pumpkins and see the wondrous things the Applewhites do with their produce.
The Applewhites are to pumpkins, gourds and squash what Madame Tussaud is to wax. For two months each year, they commission an artist to paint faces, bodies and pictures onto some of nature's most oddly and delightfully shaped creations. Costumes and bodies are added, to create a wedding chapel populated by pumpkin-people, cartoon characters, Mr. Peanut and family, Pocahontas and Cinderella.
Three elaborately painted blue hubbards, complete with spindly legs and loafers, become the California Raisins. There's even a spider room, full of pumpkin-sized spiders.
Artist-in-Residence this year is Sharon Thomason of Newport News, who has been letting her imagination run wild in the Applewhite's pumpkin patch for about four years.
``The kids love 'em,'' said Theresa. ``When my husband and I started out, we just had a few kids come by. But now we get more every year.''
The Applewhites will have you feeling like family before you've seen half of their ``Pumpkin Land'' displays.
The day we visited, Howard Bennett, principal of Ivor Elementary, brought two busloads of kids to the autumnal wonderland. ``These people have preserved what has been almost lost,'' said Bennett, ``the way farming was 40 or 50 years ago, when the harvest was done by a multitude of people.''
The ``pick your own'' produce goes for 20 cents a pound. Hand painted items featuring faces or cartoon characters are individually priced.
It was here that we discovered white pumpkins. Relatively small, they are true pumpkins, resembling their orange cousins in every respect except for their pale, ghostly color.
Theresa shared a tip for cooking pumpkins: Remove the seeds and innards, cut in half and cook in a pressure cooker. When done, the outer skin will simply peel off.
Daughter Sandi lost herself amid the vines laden with small, decorative gourds, picking enough to fill a large basket on the living room coffee table, and plenty to spare. Wife Peg marveled at the varieties and shapes of squash, most of which are edible.
I was smitten by the white pumpkins and can't wait to see how the one sitting on the front porch will look when it's carved into a jack-o'-lantern. ILLUSTRATION: Photos by DAWSON MILLS
Shorty Brinkley, left, and Ronnie Davis take a break from unloading
pumpkins at Shorty's Antiques and Produce on East Pinner Street in
Suffolk.
Jack Applewhite hoists what he guesses is a 100-pound pumpkin at
Applewhite Farms.
by CNB