Have we really been doing this for 11 years?
It has been a lackluster growing season for Jamie so I haven’t posted too many updates. He and Bode both lost their plants a couple of months ago so that left one still standing. With all of our backbreaking work landscaping our yard, Jamie didn’t really dedicate a lot of time to his craft (if I ever move again, I will make sure to had an irrigation budget built in because it’s a nightmare). Plus, he has been working a lot on building his greenhouse and it is still not completed.
The good news is after two years of living here, we FINALLY have grass, as opposed to dirt and mud for last year’s soiree. There is still a lot of work to be done in the yard but baby steps, friends.
There are two pumpkin weigh-offs in Utah and since Jamie was down to only one plant, he wanted to participate in the latter weight-off to give him an extra two weeks to grow.
I wasn’t very thrilled about doing the party two weeks later than usual because fall (and particularly October) can have finicky weather. The entire week leading up to the party was rainy and cold with snow in the mountains. Luckily for Jamie, the day of the party was a brisk and beautiful 60 degrees…but still super chilly at night.
We introduced a few new things to the festivities. I have asked Jamie to build me a firepit FOR YEARS. Heck, one Mother’s Day I even bought a cheap grill and asked him to build me a stone pit around it and he still didn’t do it. Well, that day has finally come and dare I say the firepit was one of the most popular items at the party? Equally as awesome is I asked Jamie’s insanely talented sister Tammy to do a s’mores bar and she delivered in her delightfully over-the-top way.
Of course, the pumpkin potluck was in full force. The Utah people are slowly catching on to this and there was a delicious array of pumpkin/treats but I’m still missing all of the uber creative pumpkin concoctions our Colorado friends would make. I also added two Crockpots of soup to the mix and we still ran out. Better luck next year!
As for the main event, our friend Aaron drove the forklift and there was a new level of difficulty added to the pumpkin removal…the door to the greenhouse wasn’t tall enough. So, after all of the pomp and circumstance of the vine cutting, adjusting the lifting straps around the pumpkin, lifting and starting to remove it, they had to put the pumpkin back in its place and adjust the lifting straps to be shorter so they could remove it from the greenhouse.
By that time, everyone had moved on to the food. Because you only get one chance to remove the pumpkin from the patch.
Another new element was pumpkin smashing. As aforementioned, Jamie and Bode lost their other plants early in the season. What I didn’t mention is they didn’t bother to do the upkeep on the patch after that so guess who got to remove all of the knee-high weeds a couple of weeks ago? YOURS TRULY, the one person who doesn’t even grow. And because the boys didn’t tend to their patch, there were a lot of little pumpkins growing off the vines that were now rotting. I threw many of the smaller ones over the fence for the deer to eat but I wouldn’t touch the larger decaying ones.
The day before the party, Jamie had an idea. Either he could break those pumpkins down and chuck them OR we could have pumpkin pinatas and let the kids go crazy with a baseball bat. What could be more glorious that rotting pumpkin guts spewing everywhere?
It was a hit. And fortunately no one got hit with a baseball bat.
I wasn’t informed they had started but noticed a small group of kids forming around those pumpkins.
“It there an adult supervising?” I asked.
I was assured there was.
“Is there a FEMALE adult supervising?” I followed-up because, as we all know, sometimes men aren’t the most cautious in these instances.
The kids were able to pulverize the small pumpkins but couldn’t even put a dent in the larger one.
Better luck next year and I definitely think pumpkin smashing, gourmet s’mores and the firepit will be welcome new additions to next year’s festivities
And now, off to the weigh-off!
I'm a Canadian-born mom of two, former Denver Post columnist, family travel writer, editor of MileHighMamas.com and 9News contributor. Expert on all things Utah, Denver, family and travel. Lover of laughter and life. Happily married to a man obsessed with growing The Great Pumpkin. 