Big pumpkins make the big move at Gail’s Pumpkin Patch

[September 24, 2021]    Saturday, September 18th was a big day for the folks at Gail’s Pumpkin Patch. It was a big day because it was time to harvest the big pumpkins. Now we’re not talking about that jack-o-lantern that fills the wagon and the kiddos guess it weighs 100 pounds or more. We’re talking big….really big.

This year David and Gail Sasse, owners of Gail’s Pumpkin Patch in rural Beason tried something new. They tried raising Atlantic Giant pumpkins in a roped off area within their eight acres of pumpkins for picking and for sale. Visitors to the patch were asked via signs posted not to enter into the roped off area because the pumpkins were busy growing.

On Saturday, the Sasse’s with help from Henry Bartimus harvested two giant pumpkins from the special patch.

Some may recall that last year on ‘Fall Farm Day’ Bartimus was at Gail’s’ with his first prize winning giant pumpkin. His pumpkin weighed in at over 1,600 pounds and was deemed the largest in the state in 2020.

This coming weekend Heap’s Giant Pumpkin Farm in Minooka will host the Illinois Giant Pumpkin Growers Association Weigh Off. The Sasse’s will be taking the larger of their two pumpkins to the weigh off. They don’t really expect to win though. They consider this a learning year and an opportunity to get a taste for the competition and how it is conducted.



According to Bartimus’ wife Karen there will be a large barn where the pumpkins are unloaded and weighed on a scale. That will be the official weight for the competition.
 

On Saturday, the Sasse’s were excited about harvesting the two pumpkins. They had spent some time visiting with Bartimus, who has been raising giant pumpkins for the last several years. They had told him they were ready to harvest, but they needed some advice from an expert. How were they supposed to get a giant pumpkin off the vine, out of the field, and to the Gail’s retail shed in one piece?

Bartimus not only gave them advice, he shared that he had fabricated a special lifting harness that would lift the pumpkin out of the field with the use of a forklift. He said he would bring the harness to the patch on Saturday afternoon and assist the Sasse’s in their harvest.






At 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Henry, Karen, David and Gail headed out to the patch with a number of Gail’s staff members tagging along to watch the event.

In the field, Bartimus demonstrated how he estimates the weight of the pumpkins using one of the smaller ones lying nearby. Upon doing his calculations he determined that pumpkin weighed in excess of 100 pounds.

Next he and David went into the patch and took the measurements for the “smallest” giant pumpkin. By Bartimus’ calculations it was an estimated 480 pounds. Not bad for a first time try raising the giants. The Sasse’s were not disappointed with the size of the pumpkin and steps began to get it out of the field and up to the barn.



When the pumpkin was lifted out of the field and dangling over the cleared path alongside the patch, Bartimus did an overall inspection and delivered some bad news. The bottom of the pumpkin was soft and starting to come apart. It happens, which is why it is a good idea to raise more than one.

The pumpkin was set down on a pallet and David and Gail decided they would display that one outside by their Gail’s Pumpkin Patch sign for as long as it would last. With Fall Farm Day being on Sunday, they knew they could keep it for at least that day.

Karen Bartimus shared that Henry has had similar issues and that there are just some things that one cannot keep from happening. Spoilage is one of those things.
 

David and Henry moved on to the second pumpkin. David had said it was the larger of the two. Indeed it was. When Bartimus did his measuring and calculating he estimated that the pumpkin would weigh in at around 512 pounds.

The lifting process began. David had said that on this largest pumpkin, his intent was to get it lifted onto a pallet still connected by the stem to the pumpkin plant. It would be a week until the contest and he had hoped that the pumpkin would gain another pound or two in that time….if it was good.

Everyone held their breath as the pumpkin was lifted and Bartimus bent down to check the bottom. There was a sigh of relief when he announced that the underside of the pumpkin was good. But, not everything went as planned. It turned out that the stem attaching the pumpkin to the plant was rotten, so it would do no good to keep the pumpkin attached.
 

The original plan had been that the smaller pumpkin would be good and set up as a special display on Fall Farm Day. The larger pumpkin would stay in the field and continue to grow.



With the developments on harvest day the Sasse’s did a pivot and decided to bring in both pumpkins. The bad one outside and the good one carefully sheltered inside until contest day on the 25th.

With David manning the forklift and Bartimus riding on the pallet with the largest pumpkin, the Sasse crew headed back to the retail barn to deliver their harvest.

The second pumpkin was also retrieved and brought to its resting place near the front sign.

Gail said that this Saturday, September 25th, she has plenty of staff coming in to run the patch and she and David will be heading to Minooka to enter their pumpkin in the contest. As noted earlier, they don’t expect to win but they could, it is possible that all the pumpkins this year will be around that same size. One just doesn’t know until they try.
 

And, of course, they have to get the pumpkin there in one piece. Karen Bartimus said that it does happen on occasion and it has happened to Henry. She told about the time they loaded up what looked like a perfect pumpkin and began the long drive from their home near Clinton to the weigh-in. One the way, the pumpkin began breaking apart from the jiggling. When they stopped to see what was happening, they discovered that the pumpkin had spoiled from the inside out. The spoilage was not visible from the outside, but the spoilage on the inside weakened it caused the outer rind to break.

Fortunately, the weigh in station included a large disposal unit for such tragedies. So while they drove home with disappointment, they did not have to drive home with a rotten pumpkin in their truck.

Hopefully all will go well for the Sasse’s this Saturday and their pretty pumpkin will make it to Minooka.

And, we will all look forward to next year. The Sasse’s will learn a little more about growing the giants and we can expect no less than to see one even larger than what we see this year.

[Nila Smith]