Pumpkin season begins at the farmers market

ZANESVILLE, Ohio- Starbucks pumpkin spice latte is back on the menu signaling the start of fall and now farmers are setting up at local farmer markets to sell their prized pumpkins.

Pretty Pumpkins of Chandlersville is one farm set up at the Muskingum County Fairgrounds. Mitzi Shook says she and her husband start preparing for pumpkin season in April and this year they put a lot of focus on specialty pumpkins.

“This is our first year for specialty pumpkins. We have some that look like Cinderella’s carriage, we have the white pumpkins — some of them are a little blue. Some are the acorn look. They’re light green. There’s some blue pumpkins.”

With the start of fall many people are looking for pumpkins to serve all of their decorating — and cooking — needs. For people that just can’t wait to carve those pumpkins, Pretty Pumpkins has a few solutions to help them last longer.

“You can put vaseline around the openings. That keeps them a little fresher and that helps. But there are a lot of other things you can do besides carving. They have a lot of little felt things you can put on them. And sticks, ornaments that you can use in them to get the feel for the seasons but not actually ruin your pumpkins.”

Pretty Pumpkins officially opened for the season today. You can visit their farm to take pictures and pick your favorite pumpkin. Pretty Pumpkins is located at 4845 Chandlersville Road, Chandlersville, OH 43727.