FROGTOWN, Pa. — There is a colorful rainbow inside a wooden building at the Paul and Linda Stahlman farm, and it is made out of pumpkins.“People are coming here looking for something different,” said Paul, a retired elementary music teacher from Redbank Valley School District. “I had a lady the other day come up to me and asked if I had any blue. She said her family comes here every year.”
There were still colorful pumpkins at Paul’s Pumpkin Patch store Friday afternoon, and Stahlman proudly displayed a colorful array of green, brown, white, pink pumpkins, squash, and gourds that make an indoor rainbow of all color.
“We have so many varieties of pumpkins here. When you include the different pie pumpkins, squash, and gords, there are between 50-60 varieties at the farm, and we also probably put out 15 varieties of corn,” said Stahlman.
This is the sixth year for the Pumpkin Patch, starting at 2008 on the farm that has been in his family since 1940. Both Paul and Linda are graduates of Clarion University, and Paul taught elementary music at Redbank from 1977 until his retirement in 2007, while Linda served as a librarian from 1995 until 2013.
“Business has been really good, and we had a record day last Saturday,” said Stahlman. “It’s been a mixed season, and the wet weather was pretty tough on us.”
“Some of my varieties didn’t even come up, but others did really very well. You get that much weather, and I don’t think they pollinate correctly.”
“We do have pumpkins. My jack-o-lanterns did real good, and that’s kind of funny because one or two fields up from that didn’t do so well. This is probably the nicest group of ornamental corn we have ever had.”
Opening this year on September 14, the Pumpkin Patch closes on Sunday, October 27. Stahlman has no idea as to how many people attend his creation that features a store and plenty of attractions for children, but he know it is growing.
“We sell admissions for activities, but you can come in here and buy a pumpkin or pick a pumpkin, and we never have any record except for your money. A cash register keeps track of different categories.”
Both Paul and Linda’s roots in elementary education aided in the design of the activities at the farm. When Paul retired, he saw the Pumpkin Patch as a way to bring the farm and children together. Stahlman says that all of the activities are planned with families and their young children in mind.
Even the titles of the attractions scream out families with names like “Not Too Scary” Hayrides, Barn Yard Zoo, Pau’s Peak Hay Mountain, Paul’s Pee Wee Maze, Corn Box, and Barrel Train.
“On our “Not Too Scary” nighttime hay rides, we have Jilly Boyles, our Redbank district librarian, riding the wagon, and we stop, and she tells stories,” said Stahlman.
“We have different scenes with scarecrows, a big Spider-Man on a stack of hay bales, and a few other things along the way that are lighted. I always tell people there are things that go bump in the night. We stop in the cornfield and tell stories, and, of course, I say that there are bears shaking the corn stalks. At one point, we roll pumpkins down the lane, and it’s all kid friendly.”
The “Not Too Scary” ride started four or five years ago, and Stahlman feels it’s starting to catch on. The first year it was only held on one night, and it was done just to see if people would attend. Stahlman recalled that a few people came after some arm wrestling, but they enjoyed it.
“This year we’ve had people calling to make reservations for the hay rides,” said Stahlman. “So much of the stuff out there is gore and chainsaws in the woods and that kind of thing, and this isn’t like that at all. I’m a retired elementary teacher with a heart for the kids.”
The heart also expands to other attractions.
“We have a barrel train, and the kids love that. We have a barnyard zoo, a maze made out of plastic fencing, and a corn box. It’s a box of shelled corn like a sandbox, but it’s cleaner than sand. And the kids just LOVE it. It’s geared for the younger ones.”
Add a barrel train with a beautiful fall farm background and plenty of space, and you have all of the ingredients for a fun family time.
The three Stahlman sons, Matthew, Ryan, and Jonathan, also have a hand in the development of a popular pumpkin patch attraction, the Frogtown Flinger, that catapults a pumpkin 225 to 250 feet.
“They designed it because they always wanted to build a working trebuchet, and that’s now part of the hayride,” said Stahlman. “On some weekends the hayride also includes an air cannon, and they’re up to a half-mile. It’s one of the ones in New Bethlehem this weekend. Spud Snyder has one, and he brings it out here.”
The pumpkin patch season may be coming to an end, but it’s a working farm, and that continues all year long.
“We have beef cattle, sheep, three pigs, chickens, corn, oats, and soybeans,” said Stahlman. “Up until the seventh of September, set up day for the pumpkin patch, the ‘store’ had (farm) equipment in it.”
