The Pumpkin Fairy

Some of you readers from back east have made comments on our pumpkin patch. We do things differently out here in the desert. As you can see from the picture, we have our pumpkins delivered beautifully by the Pumpkin Fairy. She sprinkles hay across a field and places the pumpkins perfectly with a 2 foot radius around each one. We don't have to go stomping through fields to find the perfect pumpkin. They are all laid out before us awaiting inspection until the perfect pumpkin with the perfect stem is chosen.

The crazy thing is that pumpkins grow amazingly well in Arizona. Case in point, the pumpkins that I didn't even plant. Our compost pile didn't break down thoroughly before we started our garden. We have 3 pumpkins that are decorating the inside of the house right now and several more still growing on the vine.


I put some plastic under this pumpkin because the rocks blemish the skin. We weren't anticipating sprawling pumpkin vines or we would have raked the rocks away.


When we were at the pumpkin patch, I asked if they grew the pumpkins there. It is an operating plant nursery during the rest of the year. They said they had them shipped in, probably from back East. Why? I don't know. I guess if we want a pumpkin off the vine, we will have to go in our own backyard.

I cut this guy off and realized he wasn't as cooked on his belly. So, I laid him out in the sun for a few days to get a little color. It was that or self tanner lotion. He came out perfectly.

Does anybody know how to get the stickers off the stem? The Pumpkin Fairy smooths out the stems for us. The ones off the vine will prick ya! I've had one inside for a month and it still has stickers. I'm thinking a little sandpaper? Somebody has to know what to do. This city slicker needs help!