Art Stewart earned three college degrees, worked successfully in two careers, started running marathons, retired in his mid-50s, bought a farm and restored the old farmhouse.
But throughout all his 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 the 15-acre farm in Greenwood Village. The property, which his family bought 50 years ago, is now surrounded by mansions and Mercedes-Benzes.
“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, a trim 58-year-old, 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 and the old barn with three tractors dating to World War II, then standing amid the active beehives that pollinate the separate male and female flowers of pumpkin plants. Stewart grows oats and triticale (he says “Star Trek” fans will remember it from “The Trouble With Tribbles”) – 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 hives can raise new queens, how he loves rain and thunderstorms and how druids began the celebration of Halloween.
Stewart grows 15 varieties of pumpkins and six varieties of squash. He has 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 only advertisement is a small “Pumpkins” sign stuck in a pumpkin in his driveway, near South University Boulevard and East Orchard Road.
Mike McPhee: 303-954-1409 or mmcphee@denverpost.com
