The Day We Picked A Peck of Pumpkins

This year we planted mini pumpkins as a tribute to my sweet grandma Hardy that passed away this spring.  For as long as I can remember, she has been growing pumpkins for all of us grandkids and great grandkids.  I didn’t even realize you could get pumpkins anywhere else until I was much much older.  So, when we moved to Spokane six years ago, I was so sad because I knew it meant we were done getting home grown pumpkins from Hardy’s.  I should have known better, she shipped our pumpkins to us!  These are some of my favorite pumpkin pictures from the last few years.  The first three are of Katelyn and Great-Grandma Hardy picking pumpkins together in 2004 when Katelyn was two.  The next picture is of Katelyn after receiving our 1st pumpkin care package in Spokane.  The last one is of Katelyn and Brooke in 2006 after opening their pumpkin care package.  They thought they were in heaven… pumpkins AND packing peanuts, a double delight.

We’ve had a lot of fun with our little garden and thought this would be the perfect year to try growing some pumpkins of our own.  The girls couldn’t wait to pick them.

They were thrilled with our crop… 15 mini pumpkins.

We also found a few more ripe tomatoes which made everyone happy.

Emily LOVED the little pumpkins.  She would kiss each of them but the three super tiny pumpkins were her favorites.

We also found a few surprises… a giant mushroom (barf) and a mini pumpkin that was actually not so mini.

This was by far our favorite harvest event in our six years of gardening and thinking about our very special grandparents/great-grandparents made it even better.  Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Hardy for giving us so many fun childhood memories and for helping us start fun family traditions.