First LIGHT | BEN’S PUMPKINS

Halloween, Ben (dressed as Zorro) had seen many of his classmates sob when ever they dragged their parents over to buy the biggest (hence most prohibi tively expensive) specimens. So Ben began arranging his product in clumps: the $2 pumpkins here, the $12 pump kins there. But the clumps lacked maj esty, and so, since fifth grade, he’s gone linear, organizing them into nice, even price rows—rows that he shifts forward and mows around as the grass grows up around his steel tractor (John Deere), which he drives at unruly speeds, accomplishing everything in third gear, which is why his father also refers to The Pumpking as “Mr. VroomVroom.”

By middle school, Ben had mas tered the tractor and thereby expanded his enterprise from a patch to a field to several fields. Then, as he entered his business did, too. Raising almost 3,000 plants on nearly five acres, Ben’s production surged beyond his personal capability, so he began hiring additional labor to help transplant, weed,

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Yankee’s Guide to Pick-Your-Own Pumpkin Patches

1 MARCH FARM

Bethlehem, Connecticut

A fourth-generation family farm with a 10-acre hilltop pumpkin field, o ering views that stretch seemingly forever. The corn mazes and “Hayloft Playscape” for kids are great bonuses. 160 Munger Lane. 203-266-7721; marchfarm.com

2 PUMPKIN VALLEY FARM

Dayton, Maine

Enjoy a hayride out to the four-acre patch and pick from white, red, and traditional orange jack-o’-lantern-worthy pumpkins. Reasonably priced (five pounds and under for $3). The corn maze and friendly farm animals make it an outing. 100 Union Falls Road. 207-929-4088; pumpkinvalleyfarm.com

3 BELKIN FAMILY LOOKOUT FARM

South Natick, Massachusetts

Established in 1651, this family farm is located less than 20 miles from Boston. Choose from 40,000 pumpkins in the expansive patch located right across from the U-Pick barn. Hayrides and a kids’ play area keep the little ones happy. 89 Pleasant St. 508-651-1539; lookoutfarm.com

4 DEMERITT HILL FARM

Lee, New Hampshire

Pick your own from not just one but two patches at this beautiful farm. You can either walk or ride out there, but if you’re in a rush, stop by the store to select a pumpkin. A wide variety of painted pumpkins and gourds are available too. Hop aboard a hayride or hike the trail network for more family fun. 66 Lee Road. 603-868-2111; demeritthillfarm.com

5 Barden Family Orchard

North Scituate, Rhode Island

Pick a pumpkin with a legacy: Gilbert Barden added pumpkins to his grandfather’s orchard in the 1980s, and today you can still snap them right from the vine. A family-friendly farm only 13 miles from Providence. 56 Elmdale Road. 401-934-1413; bardenfamilyorchard.com

6 SAM MAZZA’S Colchester, Vermont

Starting the last weekend of September, take a spooky hayride past the three-mile corn maze and through a haunted forest to the PYO pumpkin patch. Take a break at the picnic pavilion to admire your treasure. 277 Lavigne Road. 802-655-3440; sammazzafarms.com —compiled by Kelsey Liebenson–Morse

For a complete list of our favorite pumpkin patches, visit: NewEngland.com/pumpkinpatches and reap the harvest. Now he was earning a king’s ransom; the orange paperlined “honesty system” cash box, with its “Pay here, thanks,” was always brimming by day’s end.

Most of Ben’s profit went straight into a savings account, but some was spent on the kinds of things young men dream about. Whereas the pumpkin magically afforded Cinderella’s carriage to the ball, the proceeds of Ben’s pumpkins yielded his first snowmobile (royal blue) and then his first four-wheeler. Then, when he graduated from high school, his pumpkins funded much of college: courses like environmental science, forestry, and (of course) finance. However, while acquiring his higher education, Ben missed four sales seasons. In his absence, his mom and dad threatened to rename their front lawn

“Wholesale: Ben’s Parents’ Pumpkins.”

“But I am going to get royalties?” The Pumpking asked, incredulously.

Now a quarter-century after his business sprouted, Ben teaches forestry at the local tech center. He lives next door to his parents, surrounded by hay- fields and cattle pasture, and his backroad business is still sovereign. What has changed, however, is that these days, Ben’s scepter is his omnipresent cell phone.

When I catch up with him this foggy morning, he’s scrolling though text messages while simultaneously rolling up the ghostly row cover that protects the pumpkins from increas- ingly chilly nights. Soon the lawn is revealed: a silent crowd of orange faces, 20 kinds, ranging in size from the fistsized ‘Jack Be Little’ to the chunky ‘Howden’ and ‘Long Island Cheese’, right up to the hassock-sized monsters of ‘Dill’s Atlantic Giant’. There’s enough raw jack-o’-lantern material here to gratify every kid in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom.

Ben pockets the phone as he stoops to inspect his squashes for soft spots. Aha … Upon finding a few, he clenches each one and, swiveling toward Hunger Mountain basking in the distance, pitches the punky orb across the road to a group of the family steers, black-andwhite Holsteins who wait hopefully in their corral for treats. Soon there’s bright-orange pulp stuck on their dark muzzles as they leer back at him, The Pumpking’s jesters.

Ben’s Pumpkins,Snug Valley Farm, 824 Pumpkin Lane, East Hardwick, VT. 802-472-6185; benspumpkins.com/ bens-pumpkins. More fall fun at: NewEngland.com/PumpkinFestivals