The Gourd Life

Just how much joy do you think it’s possible to glean from an oversized, orange, sometimes misshapen fruit with its own rather unique flavour? Well – actually not an insignificant amount as it turns out!  We can’t tell you how much we’re loving the burst of colour the pumpkins have brought to the farm, as well as the  colour we’ve been adding to them by enhancing their natural charms with some slight remodelling but our fascination with this fruit has reached new heights since the arrival of our “posh” pumpkins.  By posh, we don’t mean your common or garden orange number but siblings to this classic favourite which present in all manner of different shapes and colours, complete with intriguing names such as super freak or crown prince!  We’re delighted that our repertoire now includes the following varieties – White Pumpkin, Red Pumpkin, Crown Prince Squash, Super Freak, Miniature and Medium Size Pumpkin.

As well as enjoying the pumpkins on site, we’ve also been entertained by many of the facts and figures that we’ve read about in relation to their origins. We thought we’d share our top ten favourite facts with you here:

🎃 A pumpkin is cultivated from a vine crop called cucurbits

🎃 The oldest archaeological evidence of pumpkins dates back to over 7,000 years ago in north western parts of Mexico

🎃 The word pumpkin originates from the Greek word Pepõn which means large melon

🎃 There are differing reports of the heaviest pumpkin recorded but the largest we’ve come across weighed in at 1,190.49kg, grown in Belgium in 2016

🎃 Pumpkins are low in calories, fat, and sodium and high in fibre. They are good sources of Vitamin A, Vitamin B, potassium, protein, and iron

🎃 Pumpkins are 90% water

🎃 Pumpkins were once recommended for removing freckles and curing snake bites

🎃 Pumping Chunking is a competitive activity where mechanical devices such as catapults or cannons are constructed to hurl pumpkins as far as possible

🎃 The biggest producers of pumpkins are China, India, Russia, Ukraine and the USA

🎃 The tradition of carving a Jack O’Lantern is thought to originate from the Irish practice to ward off wandering evil spirits

If you’re keen to join us is our new found orange obsession and are looking up to spice up your internal décor for autumn, please pop along to see if you can re-home one of the many beauties currently housed in our pumpkin patch. We’re now open everyday until 3^rd November, 9.30am-5.00pm.