10/08/2025
FALL-ing in Love: Dogtown Pumpkins
By Rachel Fenton
None of us can imagine autumn without the vibrant presence of pumpkins. Like snowflakes, no two pumpkins are alike in size, shape, or color. From the cheerful orange of the State Fair variety to the soft pastels of Fairy-Tale variety, the colors and flavors of pumpkins define our fall memories past, present and future. Dogtown Pumpkins helps make those memories, spreading fall joy throughout the community with their self-serve pumpkin farm stand, their wholesale offerings, and their decorative packages.
Carina and Dominic Borra are a match made in heaven: Dom a 4th generation farmer, Carina a Fresno State alumna in plant science. After graduating during the turmoil of 2020 and beginning a full-time job, Carina was eager for a creative outlet that she and her husband could do together. While looking through a childhood photo album, she saw pictures of her husband as a young boy growing and selling pumpkins at his family’s winery. She had studied and worked with pumpkins during her college internship. It seemed like it was meant to be: they decided to grow pumpkins together as a family venture, starting with only one acre. Unafraid of sweat and hard work, Carina spoke about the labor she and her husband did together in their fields, tending the pumpkins and filling the trucks themselves. They sold to local wineries such as Bokisch and Oak Farm, the bright gourds a beautiful compliment to the senescence of the fall vineyards, and aworked to break into the commercial market, selling to local grocery stores.
https://www.herlifemagazine.com/centralvalley/community-spotlight/fall-ing-in-love-dogtown-pumpkins/
