Smashing Pumpkins (squash, actually)

This fall, a 50 pound hubbard squash was bestowed upon our household. That is right, I said FIFTY POUNDS! We measured it by doing that trick where you stand on the scale and measure yourself, then stand on the scale again while holding the item you want to measure. You do a little subtraction and you find out that you have a FIFTY POUND squash. To get this measurement, Paul bravely ducked down under my shaking arms to read the scale while I tried not to drop the squash on his head. We learned that the squash is really heavy but also that my upper body could use some more strength.

My grandma and aunt grew this squash and credit its size to the chicken manure they used to fertilize their garden.  Maybe I will have super-sized vegetables in my future garden, too!  To give you some sense of scale: the photo above is of the squash next to an average buttercup squash.  

The squash was shared with us along with the advice that the best way of opening it up was to drop it on the sidewalk.  We considered taking a sledgehammer, sawzall or axe to it, but in the end, we took the sidewalk advice.  I usually prefer still images in this space, but in this case, I think a video is in order.

For those enjoying a holiday feast today, I hope you have an excellent slice of pumpkin pie to finish it off. Bonus points if your pumpkin pie is actually made with squash (I prefer those versions). I see a few pies in my near future, because 50 pounds is quite a lot of squash.