Drought Destroys Washington Farmer's Pumpkin Patch

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SEATTLE (AP) — A fifth-generation farmer in Washington says the drought has taken a toll on his normally bountiful pumpkin patch.

KING-TV reports (http://kng5.tv/1LpXTjz ) that Dale Sherman's 11-acre pumpkin patch on Whidbey Island, which produced 110 tons last year, was mostly weeds this fall.

Sherman told KING-TV that the best pumpkins grew in green and misshapen. Others are rotten.



Sherman says water is in short supply because he farms on an island. He doesn't irrigate, but says the rainfall is usually enough to grow his crops.

He says he's never seen a drought as bad this one. Sherman is resorting to trucking in some 50 tons of pumpkins to dump in his field so he won't lose his annual Halloween business.

About 12,000 people visited the patch last fall.