We are well into winter and we have forgotten about the pumpkin patch, but in Texas, the orange gourds are big business.
There is always a pile of pumpkins at Pumpkin Pyle in Floydada, Texas. This farm has been family owned and operated for three generations. The pumpkin patch started in 1991.
“I kind of said I wanted to plant pumpkins and they all kind of said I was crazy and kind of gave me the option of how many acres, and I planned five acres,” Jason Pyle states. “My dad and granddad said the same thing, we planted the same amount of acres. So, we planted 15 acres the first year, kind of evolved from that and from ’91 we’ve kind of grown and grown and grown year after year.”
Jason Pyle grew up on this farm in the panhandle. Floydada is about an hour and a half south of Amarillo. The family was growing cotton. At just 19 years old, Jason told his dad he wanted to do something different.
“We’ve always raised cotton...,” he explains. “I always felt like cotton and regular commodities, it’s hard to make them work... What price would they give me? I can set the price for what I feel like I can sell... It’s a lot easier to sell a pumpkin than cotton.”
The Pumpkin Pyle is famous for its different varieties. Some 70 or 80; all different shapes, sizes, colors, and contours.
“We have a Cinderella pumpkin that is red and kind of flat. From there to a fairy tale that kind of has a buckskin color that’s good for cooking. They make empanatas and stuff out of those,” according to Pyle. “From there to a white pumpkin. That is really anything that’s white in the last few years has really gotten big.”
The Pyle’s focus is mainly on decorative pumpkins. Not those for canning and eating. Jason says that those are grown mostly up north. This panhandle pumpkin patch sells the gorgeous gourds not only in their local community, but a lot go to Dallas, Oklahoma, and other states as well.
From selling a few pumpkins on the side of the road to selling thousands across the country, Pumpkin Pyle is proving that Texas is a prime location for this seasonal crop.
“I think being a family owned business has helped us grow from where we are today. We started on the roadside selling one at a time... and more things are happening now,” he adds.
