Last night, while the sun was setting and the earth still warm, we harvested our big pumpkins. We ended up with four, one for each family member. I love how that worked out.
Harvesting Pumpkins is a Family Affair
We cut them from the vine and brought them indoors. The plan was to weigh each one on our Nintendo Wii Fit, the only reliable scale in the house.
Carrying the pumpkin to safety
As we made our way inside, my friend Betsy and her two lovely daughters dropped by bearing gifts: a beautiful white oleander. What timing! We invited them to join us for the great pumpkin weigh-in, a comical endeavor when you’re using the Wii. My son created a character called “Pumpkin,” then placed it on the scale. Everyone took turns guessing Pumpkin’s weight. We belly laughed for half an hour at all the silly assumptions the computer made. Our great Pumpkin had a BMI of 99.99! When we weighed a second pumpkin, it would suggest that “Pumpkin” needed to put on some weight…or lose weight, or get more exercise. Laughter is contagious. One person laughs and the room laughs with them. It was such good fun.
Wii Fit Weighs In
Every year, no matter what seeds we plant, our pumpkins surprise us. Last year we had an eclectic variety of pumpkins; one year we had several small ones. This year’s crop produced the largest we’ve grown. The fab four all grew from one vine, self-seeded by a bird or squirrel.
Our 4 Great Pumpkins
Here’s what we named them and how they stacked up:
- Cinderella Carriage – 42.8 pounds (19 kg)
- Craig – 53 pounds (24 kg)
- Stalky – 51.9 pounds (23 kg)
- Big Mac – 60.8 pounds (27 kg)
That’s a combined total of over 200 pounds of pumpkin goodness.
“There are three things I have learned never to discuss with people: religion, politics, and the Great Pumpkin.”
-Linus, from It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown by Charles Schultz
Gardening Nirvana 