FARM'S PUMPKINS PRIME FOR PICKING.

Byline: Enrique Rivero Daily News Staff Writer

To 4-year-old Chase Basich, the perfect pumpkin wasn't a big orange thing that would make the scariest jack-o-lantern.

To the Van Nuys youngster, the best pumpkin at Tierra Rejada Ranch was a small, mottled-looking thing no more than a few inches in diameter and missing its stem. It was practically lost in the pile of other pumpkins in the wheelbarrow his mother, Mary, was pushing to the car - but would serve just as well as the others for his purposes, thank you very much.

``We can put this in the oven and make pumpkin pie,'' the youngster said.

Chase and his family and friends were just a few of the people who came to Tierra Rejada Ranch on Saturday to pick a pumpkin - or two, or five, or more - for jack-o-lanterns, pumpkin pie or other Halloween treats.

Mary Basich said she heard about the ranch's pick-your-own-pumpkin patch from a friend who rides at a nearby equestrian center. She thought it would make the perfect outing for her two children, Chase and his twin sister Arielle.

There was a hayride, petting zoo and lots of other things to keep her and her children happily occupied.

``This is nice. There's a lot of stuff for the kids to do out here - but you have to have pumpkins for Halloween,'' she said.

The Brecunier family, which owns Tierra Rejada Ranch, has been doing this at the 170-acre spread more than 20 years, said Josh Brecunier, who spent much of the day driving scores of people on the hayride.

It's been very popular, with visitors coming from far beyond eastern Ventura County.

``They come from the (San Fernando) Valley - we've had people come from as far as Glendale and downtown Los Angeles,'' he said.

He thinks its appeal lies in the fact that it isn't just another place ``that just gets set up for one month of the year'' to sell pumpkins.

``This is where they're grown; this is a farm - it gives people a break,'' he said.

The pumpkin harvest this year numbered about 10,000. ``We'll probably sell at least 800 a day,'' Brecunier said.

Pumpkins of every shape, size and appearance - from big elongated orange gourds to smaller white ones - sat in the sun while dozens of people picked their way around them to find that perfect pumpkin.

For the Gregerson family of Moorpark, it has become an annual tradition. In fact, the family comes to Tierra Rejada Ranch year-round to pick up fruit and vegetables.

``It's just a nice place to come,'' said Steve Gregerson as his wife and children put several large pumpkins in a wheelbarrow.

Nine-year-old Haleigh Zent said she couldn't find that perfect pumpkin in her home town of Calabasas - that's Spanish for pumpkin, ironically.

She had to come all the way to Moorpark to find the bright orange specimen on which she posed her stuffed tiger.

Haleigh has big plans for her pumpkin, one of several she and her brother were taking home.

``I'm going to paint mine with two people holding a heart saying ``Happy Halloween'' and it's going to have little skulls all around it,'' she said.

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2 Photos

Photo: (1--color) A tractor pulls a bedload of visitorsaround Tierra Rejada Ranch in Moorpark, past a field scattered with pumpkins for the picking.

(2--color) Amber Guyon, 3, of Simi Valley gets the giggles balancing a pumpkin in her lap while balancing herself on a hefty gourd.

Tina Gerson/Daily News