Susan Hood and 12-year-old Eliot, the eldest of her five children, go to Knill's Farm in Mount Airy about this time every year, greeted by the chilly October wind, to shop for pumpkins. They buy several for carving jack-o'-lanterns and others for baking autumn treats.
Hood explained the rules for pumpkin shopping. "It has to be a bright, deep orange, with a good stem that has a nice curl to it. We try to get a variety of different-shaped and -sized pumpkins and see how they look together," Hood said. She said the family carves the pumpkins, with help from neighborhood kids, about a week before Halloween.
Hood said the pumpkins remind her of a beloved time of year.
"Fall is my favorite season. I love it even more now than I did when I was a kid," said Hood, 39.
Hood and her son are among the throngs of shoppers in Carroll County buying pumpkins now.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that more than 9 million pumpkins were harvested in the United States last year, 80 percent of which were available for sale that October.
It's no wonder why Knill's Farm - and many others among the more than 1,000 farmers in Carroll - has welcomed its seasonal, pumpkin-pursuing customers.
"We sell bins and bins of pumpkins," said Jim Knill, owner of Knill's Farm. He said the family-owned and -operated farm has sold pumpkins since 1992. "Some days, you're really busy. Some days you're not as busy, but business is pretty consistent," said Knill.
He charges 29 cents a pound for pumpkins, which can easily weigh upward of 10 pounds.
"Pumpkin farms are very popular this time of year. It's one of those deals where the weather is super-pleasant, and you can go out and pick your own pumpkin," said Bryan Butler of the county agricultural extension center.
The name pumpkin comes from the Greek word pepon, or large melon. Around the 16th century, the pronunciation of the word pepon was modified by the French into pompon. The English changed pompon to pumpion. Shakespeare refers to the pumpion in his Merry Wives of Windsor. American colonists later changed this pronunciation to pumpkin.
Dating to at least 7000 B.C., pumpkins are believed to have first appeared in South America and were cultivated by the ancient Mayas and Incas. The gourds can range in size from less than one pound to more than 1,000 pounds.
