Pumpkins may just be the most playful of all produce. Each autumn, when these fruits ripen on the vine, it’s a heyday of measuring, carving and smashing of the enormous squashes. Pumpkins, the largest fruits of fall, tend to bring out our comical imagination more than any other type of produce.
I wonder why.
Is it their garish orange color?
The odd echo of their hollow interior?
Their stubby stems?
Their fairytale carriage potential?
Whatever it is, pumpkins evoke our humorous side.
Among the messiest fun that can be had from pumpkins involves launching the gourd-like squashes through the air for a satisfying, hollow thunk. Come the first week of November in Bridgeville, Delaware, the annual World Championship Punkin Chunkin games begin, where contestants devise large mechanical catapults, trebuchets, centrifugal machines and pneumatic cannons to hurl eight-to-ten-pound pumpkins through the air to compete for height and distance. Contraptions range from high-tech to medieval, military to comical — the theatrical category contestants shoot for entertainment value over distance. Some 55,000 to 70,000 people travel to rural Delaware each year to witness this hilarious flying pumpkin competition.
Last year a new world record was set: a projectile pumpkin was shot 4,483.51 feet.
Pumpkin carving, another rite of fall, turns pumpkins into heads with scary or funny faces. No other fruit boasts that level of personification. Tall, oblong pumpkins resemble long, serious faces; round, sphere-like pumpkins look jolly, or frightening. Misshapen pumpkins have a quirky character all their own. Though the triangle eyes and nose with a toothy grin is classic jack o’ lantern countenance, pumpkins have sported images of arched-backed cats, spooky trees, even presidential likenesses, among other zany creations.
October is a real freak show for pumpkin growing. While some growers concentrate on the tiniest of pumpkins that grace holiday tables in overflowing cornucopia displays, other farmers and pumpkin enthusiasts work all summer to grow and nurture the biggest hog-sized pumpkin they can. Obese pumpkins, weighing hundreds of pounds, win ribbons and prizes for size and weight. Maryland’s current record was set in 2008: a 713.5-pound giant. But it is dwarfed by Pennsylvania’s, Virginia’s and New York’s records, all set in 2007 and weighing respectively 1,556, 1,138, and 1,1631.5 pounds. Also in 2007 apparently a bumper crop year for pumpkins a Rhode Islander set a world record for a 1,689-pounder.
What’s the secret to growing mammoth pumpkins? There is a science to it. Starting with the right variety such as a known champion, Atlantic Giant is key. Experts say gargantuans are grown in the right soil with lots of compost, fertilization, pollination, plus attention to vine positioning and avoidance of stem stress. Giant pumpkin growers can gain camaraderie and support for their endeavors by joining other oversized-pumpkin enthusiasts in local pumpkin grower associations: local chapters are in nearly every Mid-Atlantic state.
It’s safe to say that pumpkins are valued as much for food as for fun: of the billions of pumpkin pounds grown each year, many are baked into pies and bread and churned into pumpkin butter. Pumpkin seeds scooped out of jack o’ lanterns can be seasoned and toasted for a uniquely autumn snack.
Pumpkins are serious business for the agriculture industry. In 2007, Maryland farmers grew 14.8 million pounds of pumpkins on 2,000 acres, valued at $5 million. Last year, Pennsylvania’s pumpkin production was at 124 million pounds on 6,700 acres, valued at some $20 million. Meanwhile, New York harvested 5,900 acres at 106 million pounds for the country’s most valuable crop: $38 million, according to the USDA.
In addition, farms pull in more income by capitalizing on the fun of pumpkins: pick-your-own pumpkin patches and corn mazes, hayrides and more. Such autumn traditions run deep in American culture, bringing us back to our farm and rural roots each fall. Plus, we truly couldn’t do Halloween without the pumpkin.
Laugh all you want at the absurd autumn antics involving pumpkins, but these orange squashes have staked a claim on fall tradition that’s playful, as well as highly productive.