NESCOPECK TOWNSHIP -- All that rain we saw this summer may have felt like a drag at the time, but you might see some benefits when you start pumpkin picking this fall.
"Pretty nice pumpkins this year; nice color, nice size. The rain came when it was supposed to come through the summer," farmer Harry Roinick said. He owns Pumpkin Hill Produce Farms in Nescopeck Township.
The wetter than average summer in northeast Pennsylvania meant less irrigation for farmers at Pumpkin Hill. As a result, the farm in Luzerne County is seeing some of its best pumpkins ever; but now that summer is almost over, farmers say they need better days ahead.
"Pumpkins don't need rain anymore. They need drier ground now," Roinick explained.
'Tis the season for pumpkin picking, and Sandy Beckett of Benton says Pumpkin Hill is the place to do it. When she was there Wednesday afternoon, she was just shopping around, but on busy days she will get to work herself and help out.
"They're just beautiful and homegrown," Beckett said.
Farmers at Pumpkin Hill say the busiest time of the year is always the last week of September and the first week of October as people start getting ready for fall and Halloween.
"It makes me happy to see people come to a farm, to support a farm, and not going to the grocery store all the time, but come to a farm where it's home grown," Benton said.
While farmers at Pumpkin Hill are seeing some of their best pumpkins this year, they say that is not the only thing having a good season.
"Everybody said the sweet corn was better than other years, I guess it's because of the right weather this year," Roinick explained.
He says the only thing better than picking that perfect pumpkin to take home to carve, is taking home some fresh produce for dinner while you are at it.