Autumn is just around the corner, and what says fall more than a beaming Jack 'O Lantern on the porch? Well according to Bill Toll of Emery Farm in Durham, mildew does.
Toll recently told the Concord Monitor that the heavy rain and cool temperatures of the summer have taken a toll on his pumpkin patches. Mold and mildew are common for pumpkin patches, but Toll said this year was especially harsh.
This could take a toll on the local festivities as Halloween lurks beyond the horizon. As children we carve scary faces into the skin of the pumpkin and bake and eat the seeds. As we get older we begin to smash and blow the state's official fruit up with fireworks, but I still love the seeds.
This seems like a great opportunity for a multimedia story. In an already stumbling economy, a blow to a pumpkin harvest would likely significantly increase the price. Around a college campus, that could be a problem for Bill Toll. My goal will be to get out and see what people are still doing with pumpkins, despite the raise in price. There will be people who have gotten them for free from their dorms or around campus, but I should still be able to get many pictures of painted and carved pumpkins. Also, Halloween inspires costumes, and alcohol (which tends to go hand-in-hand with Halloween around here) inspires really great costumes, so there could be potential for some great video and/or audio there as well. I'm sure I should not be short of material in this town. I hope that people will be interested in checking it out.