Ernie and Julie Chandler taught their sons at an early age the importance of hard work, dedication and the value of a dollar. Julie shared that when her boys were young they grew sweet corn on their family farm. She and her husband wanted to instill good values and education to their boys and decided to have them learn what it took to plant, grow, care and harvest their crop of sweet corn. Once harvested the boys had a roadside stand where they sold the corn in front of their family home. The boys got to keep their hard earned dollars. Julie shared, “The boys would get so much business just in front of our house.”
This past year the Chandlers carried on that tradition of teaching the next generation and decided to have their grandchildren, Wayne (5) and Roxyn (7), learn those same values taught to their sons, only this time with pumpkins. The Chandlers along with their sons and grandchildren planted around ten different types of pumpkins on an acre of their land. They took their grandchildren out to the land and helped them hand plant all those pumpkins. Wayne and Roxyn learned how to plant and care for their pumpkin patch. Julie shared, “It was a great experience for the grandchildren.They always wanted to go look and see how the pumpkins were doing. They loved it.”
Harvest season for their pumpkins was just a couple weeks ago. The Chandlers all gathered together and harvested their pumpkins, from the traditional jack-o-lantern to the lumpy, bumpy warty ones. Each pumpkin was picked and loaded up. While there won’t be a roadside stand selling their pumpkins this time around, you can purchase Wayne and Roxyn’s pumpkins from The Market here in Weiser. And like their father and uncle before them Wayne and Roxyn will get to keep the money from selling their pumpkins. “It’s cool to now see the grandkids, the next generation, doing the same thing, learning those values,” stated Julie.
