The Giant Pumpkin
Some say "Go BIG or go home."When you live on 60 acres of farm land with dozens of animals, it seems big time. And the pumpkin that was delivered to the farm was no exception. An 820 pound pumpkin. BIG.
My good friend Erica is a teacher in metro D.C. but she grew up on a farm in rural Ohio. Whenever she can, Erica comes out to the farm to get her "farm fix" and breathe the fresh air. Her parents still work on various farm ventures one of which is growing giant pumpkins. For the past 20 years they have been systematically selecting pumpkins with the best genetics to grow them bigger and better each year. This year's prize effort was this 820 pound pumpkin that won 2nd place in their local fair. For fun, they decided to load it into their pick-up truck and take a road trip to Virginia to bring it to Erica's school for a fall festival. Not wanting to be weighed down with the pumpkin for the return trip to Ohio, her family graciously "donated" the pumpkin to our farm. Yea!
For now the pumpkin is sitting under the porch to be admired and used as a jungle gym and slide but we've got big plans for it. Over Thanksgiving we plan on carving it into a pumpkin house, saving some of the seeds for Erica's family for next year's planting, as well as some for our farm. The pumpkin will slowly be fed to the chickens and pigs. Here's hoping for some large pumpkins at our farm in the future too. Thank you Reiters for this one-of-a-kind awesome gift from one farmer to another!
