Some years, it's taken over 5 hours. Yesterday we did it in just under 2. Because it was a Saturday afternoon we had a lot more help--it's been tougher in years when it's a school night.
Because it was a Saturday afternoon, we had some people we didn't know show up: 3 kids on bikes and a homeless guy We also had teenagers of church members that we hadn't seen in awhile come to help.
Not everyone can help. But that's fine. They can cheer from the sidelines or just enjoy the parade of pumpkins.
This year we got a larger amount of the smaller pumpkins. Over the past several years, we've noticed that people don't buy the bigger pumpkins like they used to.
Because more of us are using pumpkins and gourds for decorating than for carving or cooking, we got a lovely assortment of those. Bonus: the littlest children can set those up, while those of us with bigger muscles can get the bigger pumpkins off the truck.
Here and there we found some rotted pumpkins. Back to the earth they go.
At the end, we swept the hay out of the truck. We put it on the pathways between the pumpkins. Does it protect the grass? Does it protect our shoes?
Some children further north get to jump in leaves. Our children jump in hay.
This year, our pumpkin offload was tinged with even more nostalgia than usual. There's the usual nostalgia--children whom I have known since they were in elementary school are now teenagers.
And then there's the larger nostalgia--our church is in the process of possibly selling the front part of the 4 acre property. If the sale goes through, we will build a new structure in the back. Where will we be this time next year?
We may be in exactly the same place, offloading pumpkins, transforming a church yard into a pumpkin patch. We may not.
Of course, that's our situation every year. We just aren't always as aware of it.
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