The Pumpkin Years

I grew up on the outskirts of Toronto, on an acre of farmland that was swiftly surrounded in the 1970’s by Bramalea, known then as Canada’s ‘First Suburban City’. My dad always grew a large patch of pumpkins and as the suburbs grew closer, I would sit at the end of our driveway with a little cart full of pumpkins and sell them to people who would stop in their cars. 50 cents for a small one, $1.00 for a big one! Soon my father sold three lots off the back of our property for houses and that was it for the pumpkin patch. Our one acre of farmland was chopped by half and surrounded by light industrial factories and housing. But I have very fond memories of the pumpkin patch…