Posted
on November 7, 2015
(First Saturday of November)
The
first Saturday of November is Pumpkin Destruction Day at The Rock
Ranch in Georgia. People are able to bash, smash, chunk, or drop
their pumpkins. There are pumpkin-bombing planes (hmmm...this worries
me a bit!), pumpkin-demolishing monster trucks, and pumpkin archery.
There is a 50-foot fork lift from which you can drop your pumpkin,
giant hammers with which you can smash your pumpkin, and even a
cannon with which to shoot your pumpkin (with a satisfying
squish-splash when hit hits the ground). There are games of pumpkin
darts and pumpkin bowling.
In
other ways, you can destroy and demolish your pumpkins in almost
every way possible!
Except,
I guess, they don't bring in elephants! They probably should bring in
a few elephants!
By
the way...I think it is interesting that The Rock Ranch sells
pumpkins earlier in the fall. They advertise that they sell all
shapes and sizes of pumpkins. Many families enjoy taking autumn
photos in the pumpkin patch early in the season – and, I imagine,
take less-beautiful photos of Pumpkin Destruction Day!
Or
videos...
I
wonder if they play music by Smashing Pumpkins during the
event?
Of
course, smashing pumpkins can be satisfying because they are
partially hollow and filled with yucky guts. Just remember to never,
ever squish/squash, destroy/demolish, or otherwise smash pumpkins
that do not belong to you!!
I
got to wondering...
As
I saw the elephants squashing pumpkins video I linked to above, I realized that the zoo
organizing the event called it “the Squishing of the Squash.” And
I got to wondering about the difference between squashes, gourds,
vegetable marrows, and pumpkins.
 |
| There are so many variations in color in the pumpkin / squash / gourd / marrow family, you can create a sort of mosaic with them. |
I
discovered that there is quite a bit of overlap between these names –
with one word or another used for a particular variation depending on
where you live. The only hope to sort them out is to use species
names...but even that is tricky, because each species name includes a
LOT of what I think of as very different foods / decorative gourds!
First,
pumpkins, gourds, squashes, and marrows all belong to the family
Cucubitaceae, which also includes melons and cucumbers.
That
family is subdivided into 125 genera, one of which is Cucurbita.
The
genus Cucurbita includes four species that we commonly call
pumkins, squash, gourds, or marrows:
C.
pepo
Zucchini most jack-o-lantern pumpkins- acorn squash
- delicata squash
- most ornamental gourds
- vegetable marrows
- zucchini
- pattypan
- spaghetti squash
 |
| Vegetable marrows |
 |
| jack-o-lantern pumpkins |
C.
maxima
- hubbard squash
- giant pumpkins
- buttercup squash
- pink banana squash
- gray banana squash
- jarrahdale squash
- kabocha squash
- winter keeper squash
- Cinderella pumpkins
 |
| Cinderella pumpkins |
C.
moschata
- butternut squash
- futtsu squash
- Long Island cheese pumpkin
- winter crookneck squash
- Pennsylvania Dutch crookneck
- Seminole pumpkin
 |
| Butternut Squash |
C.
argyrosperma
- cushaws
Another
common “gourd” is another genus:
Lagenaria
siceraria
- calabash, or bottle gourd
 |
| Calabashes |
Most
of the pumpkins, gourds, and squashes are from the New World,
specifically North America, but of course many of these names are
from Old World languages such as Italian (zucchini) and French
(pumpkin, which comes from pompon).
The calabash is an Old World plant often used for making water containers.
Also
on this date:
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ahead:
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out my Pinterest boards for:
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