Pumpkin Patch Pickers: Tully Youngsters Learn Where Pumpkins Come From on Field Trip

Kindergartner Louis Marchetta IV bent over to get a good grip on his pumpkin. Grunting from the effort, he hoisted it to his chest and held it tight, staggering back a step under the weight.

"This is the one I want," he told his mother, Jennifer Burruel. "It's the best one ever.

His mother brushed the dirt from the orange surface and tore off the vine still clinging to the pumpkin stem. "That's why I came, I guess," she said. "I had to help carry the pumpkin," She snapped a quick photo before Louis lowered the pumpkin to the field.

Kindergartners typically choose pumpkins that are too big and heavy to carry when they go on their annual field trip to Buckelew Farms, said Ana Rivera, one of the Tully Accelerated Elementary Magnet School teachers who accompanied her 19 students on Oct. 16 to the site. "We try to compromise," she explained." I tell them if they can't carry the pumpkin to the bus, they should look for a medium sized one."

Parents often bring backpacks or bags to tote the bounty back to the horse-drawn wooden wagons that bring children to the fields and back to their buses. "The wagons and horses are one of their favorite parts of the trip," Rivera said.

This year, one bus was paid for by CAPS, a preschool federally funded program, and one from the maintenance and operations budget. But last year, state tax credits contributed by taxpayers paid for the trip. And tax credits also paid the $160 per student cost for an overnight trip last weekend to the Grand Canyon for Tully fifth-graders.

Schools welcome these tax credits that pay for a variety of extra-curricular activities and educational trips. Christina Savel, whose daughter, Clarissa, went on the pumpkin field trip, said she and her husband contribute their tax credits to Tully, helping fund the Grand Canyon trip and a trip to Mesa Verde last year. This year, their third-grader, Cassandra, walked to Peter Piper Pizza on Friday to help make pizza on a field trip.

"My kids love school and when they have field trips, they love it even more," Savel said, as she helped Clarissa into the wagon and then wedged her two pumpkins beside her seat.

Clarissa said it was fun to come out to the field on such a nice day. She had chosen a big pumpkin for herself and a medium one for her Aunt Mary and Uncle Geoff.

Burruel said her son learned where pumpkins come from on the trip. She kept an eye on him as he dashed between the furrows in the field.

"Look at that cute little baby," Louis called to his mother, pointing to a tiny yellow pumpkin poking out from the leaves. He stopped to rest on a tall, narrow pumpkin, waiting for his mother to catch up. Picking his favorite pumpkin, he rolled it up and down the furrows like a ball, a big gap-toothed smile lighting his face.

Rivera said the children not only enjoyed playing under the sun with their friends, they also learned about fall-related subjects they're studying in their thematic unit. "We're learning all about things like spiders and pumpkins," she explained. "The kids were so excited all last week. They've been counting down the days. It's really a highlight for them to go on trips like these. I can't say enough good things about what the tax credits can do for our children."