Pumped for fall
Pumpkin patch opens.
Sophie Wickert wandered through the loose rows of pumpkins, searching for one with just the right feel. At first, Wickert, 24, was drawn to smaller oval-shaped pumpkins, but none hit the mark.
Then she spotted a round, medium-sized pumpkin with a light-orange shade, and she grew excited.
“This one spoke to me,” she said. “The light was shining on this one in the perfect way.”
Wickert of Albuquerque was among the 200 people who came from miles around to pick pumpkins Saturday at El Rancho de las Golondrinas, a 200-acre pastoral site that operates as a living history museum with its original colonial buildings and guides who dress in period clothing to show how villagers lived in the past.
As with most everything, the pandemic has reduced activity at the museum. Most of the 34 historic buildings are closed, and the museum has canceled large events such as the Harvest Festival, which was scheduled for this weekend.
The pumpkin patch is normally a small part of the harvest festival, which drew about 3,000 people last year, said Daniel Goodman, the museum’s director.
For its fourth year, the pumpkin patch was made into the main event that required reservations. The day was divided into two sessions with 100 pumpkin pickers allowed per session.
Goodman said 100 is a good number because it allows people to space themselves properly, glean pumpkins, walk the property and enjoy the outdoors on a sunny day.
They could allow more visitors and stay within the limit of 25 percent capacity, he said. “But we don’t think it’s appropriate.”
Wickert came to the museum with boyfriend Owen Martin, 25, her parents and a friend. This was their first time coming to El Rancho de las Golondrinas for pumpkins, she said.
“We wanted to come to this [pumpkin patch] because they seemed to be taking the restrictions seriously,” she said.
Mary Wickert of Las Vegas, N.M., sought a “weird and warty” pumpkin.
Her husband, Joseph Wickert, had a more political aim: Find a pumpkin to carve a caricature of President Donald Trump.
It’s an election year jacko’-lantern, he said, calling it a “Trumpkin.” He carved one of Trump and another of Hillary Clinton in 2016.
“Hillary didn’t turn out so well,” Mary Wickert said.
Inside the patch, Mary Wickert was thrilled to find her weird pumpkin — a misshapen, halfgreen one.
Joseph Wickert grabbed a big pumpkin to carve a scary likeness of the president.
Nearby, some kids were scooping up large pumpkins and unloading them at the feet of Robert and Donna Delgado. The Santa Fe couple said each of their nine grandchildren at the patch was taking home a pumpkin.
Donna Delgado said this event was a way to introduce their grandkids to an outdoor activity in a beautiful setting that she and her husband have enjoyed for years.
“We’ve been coming here since we were in elementary school,” she said.