LEFT: Pumpkins cover the nearly 5 acre field behind the Brawners’ home in Lafayette.
PUMPKIN PATCH visit SMILES Hundreds Brawner Pumpkin By Elizabeth Wootten
BELOW: No matter their age or size, visitors have fun at the pumpkin patch. BELOW LEFT: Several varieties of pumpkins are available for reasonable prices.
Patch each fall
FINDING THE PERFECT PUMPKIN
The Brawners have customers from cities such as Lafayette, Baxter, Nashville, Hendersonville, Gallatin, Westmoreland 8 | September/October 2014
Photos courtesy of Polly Brawner
E
ighteen years of smiles and memories are scattered through Dennis and Polly Brawner’s pumpkin patch. From mid-September through just after Halloween, the couple stays hard at work selling their pumpkins to hundreds of customers who come by their farm in Lafayette. Pumpkins have always been a part of Dennis’ life. “I was raised on a farm,” he says, “and my daddy always had a few pumpkins to feed the hogs and cattle.” When Dennis himself started farming, he set aside half an acre for pumpkins. After Dennis retired from farming tobacco, he decided to increase the size of the pumpkin patch. Today, the patch covers nearly 5 acres and hosts a variety of pumpkins, such as Cinderella, Big Max, Baby Boo and Jarrahdale. During June and July, the Brawners plant pumpkin seeds using an old tobacco setter. The pumpkins take around 100 days to mature, and by mid-September, the Brawners are ready to open for business. The biggest pumpkin ever from the Brawners’ patch weighed 175 pounds, and several have reached 140-150 pounds. “They don’t do it every year,” Polly says. “One year we had all vines and no big pumpkins. Then the next year was a beautiful patch.”
and Defeated Creek. “They hear about it and come,” Polly says. “They know they’re going to get a better buy than if they go to the supermarket or produce store.” Dennis estimates that hundreds of people come to buy pumpkins each year. “It ain’t no big thing,” he says. “It all just comes at one time; that’s what makes it seem big.” A regular pumpkin sells for $3 or $4, with the bigger pumpkins going for $12 to $15. Polly says they usually have set rows for each price to keep things simple. The Brawners also take two loads of pumpkins to Westside Elementary School to sell for $1 apiece. “They might be two- or three-dollar pumpkins (at the patch), but the kids (at the school) can get a pumpkin for a dollar, if they want it,” Polly says. One year, they had a late patch and carried green pumpkins to the school. “They went wild over them because they looked more spooky,” she says.
PAID IN SMILES
The Brawners aren’t looking to make a fortune from their pumpkin business. For them, the joy and smiles they bring customers make it worthwhile. Their patch has set the scene for a marriage proposal, family outings and field trips. “One family does a trip every year,” Polly says. “They stay two hours or more. They say this is their time together.” Polly has gathered their pumpkin patch memories into about a dozen photo albums. She is often able to get photos of kids each time they come, creating a sort of yearbook of their visits through the years. “It makes you feel good to know you’re helping them feel good and making them happy for a few minutes,” Dennis says.
VISIT BRAWNER PUMPKIN PATCH!
Dennis and Polly Brawner 1234 Union Camp Road Lafayette, TN Phone: 615-666-2397 North Central