Some pumpkins just aren't meant for the pie pan. Robert Sabin has been growing "Atlantic giant" pumpkins for ten years and says they are more like children than fruit to him. He raises his pumpkins for competition—the heavier, the better.
IRA FLATOW, HOST: Here with me now is Flora Lichtman with our video pick of the week. Hi, Flora.</s>FLORA LICHTMAN: Hi, Ira.</s>IRA FLATOW, HOST: What have we got this special holiday week?</s>FLORA LICHTMAN: This is a moldy oldy that we're digging out of the archives.</s>FLORA LICHTMAN: But it's actually a really good one, and it's perfectly appropriate for the day after Thanksgiving because if you, like I am feeling like a large pumpkin right now after my meal.</s>IRA FLATOW, HOST: As big as a large pumpkin, you know.</s>FLORA LICHTMAN: And this video is for you. This is a large pumpkin grower, these Atlantic giants. They're these pumpkins that get to be 1,000 pounds. And we go visit Robert Sabin, who lives out in Long Island, and is entering his giant pumpkin into the Hicksville Giant Pumpkin Weigh-off.</s>IRA FLATOW, HOST: Wow, and it's a big competition, isn't it? People come from around the country.</s>FLORA LICHTMAN: People from around Long Island for sure.</s>FLORA LICHTMAN: With their giant pumpkins. But there's a parade of giant pumpkins, and we hear how they grow the pumpkins. Robert Sabin has amazing stories about what he's done to protect his pumpkins.</s>FLORA LICHTMAN: So first of all, he has this whole pumpkin patch in his backyard. And he eventually settles on the pumpkin that he's going to put all of his care into. And then he does things like he puts a blanket on it at night.</s>IRA FLATOW, HOST: Aw, really?</s>FLORA LICHTMAN: Really, I couldn't make this up.</s>FLORA LICHTMAN: To keep it warm at night. And you can't over-water it. This is a big problem people have, because the skin will crack. You have to be, you know, a considerate parent. But you can't eat them. I was - my first question was, like, oh, pumpkin pie forever. And was like no, that's not what these are for.</s>IRA FLATOW, HOST: And it weighs almost 1,000 pounds. You have to get it out of the backyard.</s>FLORA LICHTMAN: A crane, yeah, you've got to - this is actually a really tense moment for these pumpkin growers is getting it out of the patch, into the truck and then loading it back onto the scale at the weigh-off. So you see them coming through with cranes. It's really - it shouldn't be missed. It's really a feel-good hero story.</s>IRA FLATOW, HOST: And it's our video pick of the week. It's up there on our website at sciencefriday.com, a feel-good pumpkin story, a success, something like if you...</s>FLORA LICHTMAN: All pumpkin stories are feel-good, but...</s>IRA FLATOW, HOST: That's...</s>FLORA LICHTMAN: It is uplifting.</s>IRA FLATOW, HOST: It's uplifting, and he's uplifting the pumpkin. And you'll see that right there on the video, on our video pick of the week. Thank you, Flora.</s>FLORA LICHTMAN: Thanks, Ira.