Kommer ni ihåg hur Almanzo i Laura Ingalls Wilders bok "Farmer Boy" drar upp en jättepumpa?
Work was not so pressing now. Almanzo had time to weed the garden, and to hoe the row of potato plants he was raising from seed. He had planted a few potato seeds, just to see what they would do. And every morning he fed his pumpkin, that he was growing for the County Fair. Father had shown him how to raise a milk-fed pumpkin. They had picked out the best vine in the field, and snipped off all the branches but one, and all the yellow pumpkin blossoms but one. Then between the root and the wee green pumpkin they carefully made a little slit on the under side of the vine. Under the slit Almanzo made a hollow in the ground and set a bowl of milk in it. Then he put a candle wick in the milk, and the end of the candle wick he put carefully into the slit. Every day the pumpkin vine drank up the bowlful of milk, through the candle wick, and the pumpkin was growing enormously. Already it was three times as big as any other pumpkin in the field.
Så många gånger jag har tänkt att jag borde prova om även jag skulle kunna få en pumpa till min tacksägelsepaj. Men det har stannat vid tanken.
Förmodligen väl värt ett försök. Det finns de som säger att pumpor är lika lättodlade som t.ex. zucchini. Och det är ju lätt. När vi fått alldeles för många en sommar, satte jag upp en seriestrip på kylskåpet som påminnelse inför kommande år. I the The Wizard of Id säljer någon zucchini på torget och en kund frågar vad de kostar:
SvaraRadera– They are free.
– How can you afford that?
– People sneak up att night and leave them here.