Off the cap of my cranium I can’t remember how long ago exactly  it was that I amended a patch of soil in the backyard and we planted several pumpkin plants… I think it was near the middle/end of August.
We knew we’d gotten a late start if we were thinking about harvesting a would-be jack o’lantern for Halloween, and we also knew there was a chance the plants wouldn’t bear any fruit whatsoever.
Over the next couple weeks, the vines took off growing in every direction and there was a good amount of flowering but little else, until finally I spied a bloom that had a little something extra at its base. Low and behold a pumpkin had been born.
Other pollinated blossoms would bear tiny fruits, but only this first one managed to survive and thrive, growing from the size of a pea to a marble to a golf ball to a tennis ball to a softball.
I was ready to let it keep on growing until yesterday, when I traced its vine trough the tangle back to its place in the ground and found it withering severely. I knew it was time to cut the chord.
And the result is just about the most adorable palm-sized little I done ever did see. From where it grew upon a rock, it’s backside has a nice arch to it, allowing  it to seat with a nice backwards lean so its “face” has a nice upward tilt… am I anthropomorphologizing this vegetable too much?
click image to doublify
Little more than the size of an extra-large coffee mug, our great little pumpkin weighed in very close to my 20-ounce guess yesterday: 19.7 ounces.
We’re very proud.
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