00:05 - We just finished up our first giant pumpkin contest.

00:09 - We've always had a giant pumpkin contest here at the fair.

00:14 - Some of our payouts are in the $500 range for first prize.

00:17 - We had some 6,000 pound pumpkins previous, but in

00:20 - communicating with some growers, there's a GPC association

00:25 - which is a giant pumpkin Commonwealth,

00:28 - and that's a world wide association of giant growers.

00:31 - They'll breed this variety with this variety.

00:34 - They'll sell seeds for hundreds of dollars apiece. The care they take with up there,

00:39 - they're raising them in the house before they get planted outside.

00:42 - They're putting covers over the space. And I think you saw some today.

00:46 - They're just massive in size. So the weight alone.

00:50 - So they're it's a daily thing, to take care of a giant pumpkin.

00:54 - The apples they put into it in time, it's really unbelievable.

01:00 - Tonight we won the harvest. The heaviest pumpkin at 1383.

01:05 - We also weighed a watermelon that won first place, and that was 113 pounds.

01:10 - So we we it was our first year trying watermelon, so it was pretty good.

01:14 - And we still have our biggest one on the vine.

01:17 - And we're going for the Pennsylvania state record. It was three years ago.

01:20 - And it's it's a really great story. My nine year old at the time, he's nine.

01:25 - My my 12 year old, he's Alex, he has autism and he's

01:28 - never really been into anything competitive, before.

01:32 - And then he got this idea of where he wanted

01:34 - to be a champion pumpkin grower, and we all kind of got behind him and said, okay,

01:39 - if you want to do this, but we'll support you. But you got to see it through.

01:43 - Really, what giant pumpkin growing is about is really

01:47 - pushing yourself as as a grower to do better than last year.

01:52 - And that's how I use it growing. I use it as life lessons for, for my children.

01:56 - You know, everything today is so fast paced, especially for our kids.

02:02 - This is something that's a year long project

02:04 - and you don't see immediate results.

02:07 - You start the seed in April, you pollinate in June,

02:10 - you don't pick it until October, so you don't really see,

02:13 - you don't reap the rewards for for six months.

02:16 - What you have to do is grow the biggest plant possible and

02:20 - have all the energy from that plant going into one pumpkin.

02:24 - So you cut off the vines, you cut off all the other little baby pumpkins.

02:29 - So that plant's energy is all going into that one pumpkin.

02:32 - And that's how they get so big. So our pumpkin is going to the National

02:37 - Funeral Directors Association in North Carolina. So, it was a little lighter than

02:43 - expected, but, you know, it's still a talking piece.

02:46 - We were creating content that, you know, directors

02:49 - were following the story this year. So we want to bring it down there and show them

02:54 - the same pumpkin growing giants and growing vegetables and being able

02:58 - to grow your own food, especially, for our children. It's so important for them to,

03:04 - to see where their food comes from. To learn that, you know,

03:10 - that hard work and dedication where

03:13 - instead of being on their tablets or on the screens,

03:16 - we really want them outside seeing what nature provides for

03:20 - us. This year we were sponsored by my company, ASD. We serve funeral homes.

03:24 - We wouldn't be able to do it without them.

03:26 - And also all of our soil was provided by, panko soils.

03:31 - This was planned to be our our last year. But we didn't get the results

03:36 - that I wanted, and it was really up to them.

03:37 - And they decided within the last couple of days that we're not going to end it on.

03:41 - You know, we want to beat our personal best, right?

03:43 - That's that's all that this is about is competing. It's fun. Winning is fun.

03:48 - But it's about doing better than what you did last year.

03:52 - Personally, like the rest of the world. Doesn't matter. But what's inside of you?

03:57 - And they weren't happy with our results, so they do want to continue to grow.