Pumpkins and nostalgia at Harvest Valley Farm
MIDDLESEX TWP — More than four decades of memories are displayed in photographs at Harvest Family Farm in Valencia’s Fall Harvest Festival every October.
“There's so many pictures of this place,” said Art King, who operates the farm with his brother, Larry King, and son, David King.
The photos are a mix of submissions from past visitors and those taken by the farm owners themselves. Some returning guests even signed photos of themselves, King said.
“This is the coolest one of all right here,” King said, pointing to a couple who got engaged at the festival nearly a decade ago and now have two children.
This weekend — Saturday, Oct. 24, and Sunday, Oct. 25 — will conclude this year’s festival at the fourth generation, 160-acre family-owned farm.
The festival started small, King said, and has grown significantly in scale over the years.
“The crowds have gotten bigger, too,” King said.
Five acres on the hillside of the property reserved for parking is sometimes not enough to accommodate visitors and preparing for them takes a lot of work.
Early planning begins a year ahead of the festival, King said. Pumpkins are planted in mid-June, with a 90 to 110 days window to grow.
“We always have cover crops in the field first and then we plow those down and prepare the soil and plant the pumpkins,” said King. “We're usually harvesting pumpkins about the middle of September and then we store them in the barn so we can get through October.”
Along with the pumpkin patch, King’s son, David, puts together a pumpkin display every year.
This year, the farm grew three acres worth of pumpkins, according to King.
Preparations to organize the festivities itself begin in September, according to King.
From hay rides to a cornstalk maze to a corn pit and a straw tunnel, the October festivities at the farm offer many different experiences. Food from Mars Farmhouse Cafe and beer from Coney Creek Brewing is also available.
“Most people that come here do the hay ride,” King said. “This is a different hay ride than you get anywhere else. You're not sitting on a board. You're sitting on straw, so this is a very smooth ride.”
Turnout flows in a bell curve, King said. The first and last weekends of October draw a moderate crowd and the middle two weekends are the busiest.
Admission is free, but activities and pumpkins require payment.
“We're a working farm,” King noted, which he said adds to the experience of the festival.
Seven full-time employees at the vegetable farm help the Kings run the enterprise, along with additional personnel at the packing house and part-time employees at the farm’s market located in Bakerstown, Allegheny County.
The market, which also has a deli and a bakery, is open seven days per week year round. The family also owns 5 acres there.
“We are hoping to do more things there,” King said.
When King takes visitors on the hay ride up to the farm’s highest point, he said he likes to mention the moment in his life when he decided to quit his job and go into the farming business with his brother. After his father passed away, he left King a tractor in his will, which made the decision clear.
“I would have been not even 40 years old,” King said.
Looking at smiling children in the photo display at the farm, he said they’re the reason he continues the event.
