Art Stewart earned three college degrees, worked successfully in two very different careers, started running marathons, retired in his mid-50s, bought a farm and restored the old farmhouse.
But throughout all life’s changes, one thing has remained constant — he has always grown pumpkins.
“I just love ’em,” he said while surveying this year’s crop of about 2,000, which he sells to neighbors and friends. “I’ve been doing it since I was 5. I’ve always enjoyed growing just about anything.”
Stewart grew up on a 15-acre farm in Greenwood Village, a plowed patch of dirt now surrounded by mansions and Mercedes-Benzes. He’s reluctant to give the farm’s location as he doesn’t want any publicity.
“I’m now into second-generation customers. I remember some when they were this high,” he said, holding his hand waist-high. “Now their children are coming here.”
Sally Berga, an obstetrician, drove up the driveway to make her annual purchase. “I’ve been coming here for 12 years to buy for my three kids,” she said. “We wouldn’t think of buying pumpkins from a grocery store.”
Stewart, an incredibly fit 58-year-old marathoner, still has the energy of a trick-or-treater and lights up when asked about growing stuff.
A visitor quickly ends up touring the pumpkin fields, the old barn with three tractors dating back to World War II, then standing amid the active bee hives which pollinate the separate male and female flowers of pumpkin plants. He grows oats and triticale (he says Trekkie fans will remember it from “The Trouble with Tribbles”), both grains he plants to attract Canada Geese to his fields, where they eat and fertilize.
Stewart’s curiosity is endless, and he can talk in depth about all sorts of things — how his bees can grow new queens, about his love of rain and thunderstorms, or how Druids began the celebration of Halloween.
“In northern Europe, a banner or curtain separated the physical and spiritual worlds,” he said. “On the night of what now is Halloween, they could pierce that curtain and join the other world. That’s how we celebrate goblins and ghosts from the dead.”
Jack-o’-lantern comes from the myth of Stingy Jack, an Irish drunkard and gambler who tricked the devil. Unable to get into either heaven or hell, Jack was forced to wander Earth for eternity, with an ember from hell that the devil gave him to keep warm. Jack carved out a turnip and put the ember in it to use as a lantern.
Pumpkins, an American crop first grown by Mayan Indians, now are preferred over turnips for carving and candles.
Stewart grows 15 varieties of pumpkins and 6 varieties of squash. He’s got red (French or Cinderella) pumpkins, Blue Moon pumpkins, white (Valenciano) pumpkins, tan (Long Island Cheese) pumpkins, baking or pie pumpkins, pumpkins with hull-less seeds, big pumpkins, little pumpkins. His prices are very fair, and he sells out nearly every year. His only advertisement is a small “Pumpkins” sign stuck in a pumpkin in his driveway, near South University Boulevard and Orchard Road.
Stewart earned a degree in agronomy from Colorado State University and another in economics from Denver University, then went to work for Great Western Sugar helping farmers grow sugar beets. Later, he got an MBA from DU and went into banking, first in real-estate lending then private investment banking. He retired three years ago.
He and his wife of 35 years, Barbara, bought a farm in Wisconsin right as he retired and spend summers there growing corn, soybeans, alfalfa hay and winter wheat. He’s restored the farmhouse and plans to tackle the barn.
“It’s always been a dream to own a farm. We looked at 60 or 70 farms before we bought in Wisconsin, which is beautiful,” he said.
Mike McPhee: 303-954-1409 or mmcphee@denverpost.com
