‘Entertainment Farming ’
(ContlniMd from Pag* A2O)
soybeans.
This time of year is particularly
hectic for the farm because the
pumpkins and other cool season
crops are harvested for the store
and for the festival.
In season, Yerkes sells the pumpkins for 30 cents a
pound either at the store or at the pick-your-own location.
One of tables identifies prices at the pumpkin-picking site.
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None Such Farm was started by
the Yerkes family in 1926. At the
beginning of the Great Depression,
it was a dairy. But dairy processors
folded and Yerkes father and
grandfather turned to produce and
cattle farming in the mid-19305.
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Ethel McCulloch, office manager of the farm, left explains how a pumpkin grows on
a vine to children from St. Paul’s Growing Together Nursery School.
The farm name. None Such, ori
ginated because at the time of its
founding, there were “no such”
farms as large in the central part of
the county, according to Yerkcs.
For a time. None Such grew
only sweet com (up to 250 acres)
and raised steers. But in subse
quent years the farm diversified,
and now grows a considerable
number of produce and livestock
crops.
The farm market was started in
1978.
This year’s mid-July “mon
soons,” said Yerkes, proved espe
cially difficult to deal with because
the overly wet conditions chal
lenged com picking and disease
prevention on vine crops. “Those
were the wettest conditions we’ve
had for a long time,” hesaid. “We
just had an awful time this year
harvesting com.”
Also, while many pumpkin
growers encountered problems
with fungal diseases such as
anlhracnose and problems with
blight and powderey mildew, cul-
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tivation practices and critical
applications of fungicides helped
ensure a good vine crop for None
Such Farm.
“You must rotate vine crops,”
said Yerkes. “It’s very critical that
they be rotated. You just absolute
ly cannot put vine crop on vine
crop. It’s deadly as far as soilbome
problems.”
He said that the farm uses an
array of chemical treatments to
ensure that, from bloom on, the
pumpkin crop doesn’t brown and
wither. Also, proper fertilization is
the key to good pumpkin
production.
“Once they start to bloom, the
pumpkin vines are sprayed every
week, once a week,” he said. Until
first frost, there was no browning
down of the vines. The pumpkins
were orange everywhere and
late rains pushed a second bloom.
There were still many pumpkins in
the green stage ready to harvest
Yerkes believes he is fortunate
to have proper soil drainage. That
was specially challenging, since
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Lancaster Farming, Saturday, October 29. 1994-A2l
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(he farm recorded 1S inches of rain
in five weeks at one time. Ycriccs
said that one time, more than three
inches per week fell, twice as
much as ideal, with one four-inch
rainfall coming in a 24-hour
period.
“Vine crops can’t take water
around their toes. They don’t like
the wet conditions. They do better
under dry conditions if you
have to have an excessive condi
tion, it would be better dry than
wet”
Yerkes has 10 acres in pumpkin
production, including many variet
ies (Howden the face variety;
sugar; spooky; Big Macs; and
others). Demand is up for the face,
or carving pumpkins, but down for
the cooking or neck pumpkins.
‘ ‘Frankly, making pumpkin pies
at home is a lost art in this area,’’
he said.
But other vine crops, including
cantaloupe, do well.
In season, Yerkes sells the
pumpkins for 30 cents a pound
(Turn to Page A 22)
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