My apologies for the late post: I was traveling back to North Carolina most of the day and then I got involved in the whole “DO ALL THE THINGS” aspect of arriving home after a trip.  So let’s get to it!

This post is not about Charlie Brown, sorry guys (I can only do so many cartoon pumpkin stories a week, really, and what do you mean you didn’t read my amazing post on Raggedy Ann and Andy: The Pumpkin That Couldn’t Smile?!  You totally need to read it because it has EMOTIONS and you will cry and it is awesome, I think I will watch it again, maybe tonight, and also tomorrow).  Today’s post is actually inspired by a NYTimes article that happened earlier this week.  The article is about pumpkin growers, mostly amateur folks that are not professional farmers, and their quest to grow the one-ton pumpkin.

Now, I know that people do this sort of thing for state fairs but  I did not know this was a thing.  I saw an enormous, awesome pumpkin at the North Carolina State Fair last year:

Look at those crazy enormous pumpkins!  I do not remember the exact weight of the biggest. blue-ribbon winning pumpkin but I believe it was under 1,000 pounds.  Some of these farmers are growing pumpkins that are 1,800+ pounds, which I just cannot even imagine.  Our Whole Foods has a few super-large pumpkins in their Halloween pumpkin display, but I’d be surprised if they were more than 500 pounds.  I am tempted to buy one and haul it home, although I doubt it is carveable.  According to the article some of these super-almost-one-ton-pumpkins have walls that are a whole feet thick, what?!  And people can sell the seeds of these pumpkins for hundreds, sometimes even thousands of dollars.  Seriously, give the article a read, it is fascinating.  Here’s a clip:

“But it is the seeds, a strong indicator of a pumpkin’s size, that are the most bankable factor in the quest for giants. Last fall, Chris Stevens, 33, a Wisconsin general contractor who grew the 1,810-pound pumpkin, sold a single seed from it for $1,600, by far the most anyone has ever paid for a pumpkin seed. Its descendants may prove just as valuable. ”

Big-pumpkin enthusiasts can visit BigPumpkins.com, a website devoted to the growing of competitively large pumpkins.

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