from yesterday's San Mateo County (California) Times . . .
Grower wins weigh-off at Half Moon Bay event for third year in a rowBy Julia Scott = , STAFF WRITER
HALF MOON BAY - Wieighing just more than a Model T Ford, Joel Hollands enormous squash took first place in the Half Moon Bay pumpkin weigh-off Monday.
Holland of Puyallup, Wash., conquered the weigh-off for the third time in three years with a 1,223-pound giant that netted him $6,115 in prize money.
Last years winning weight was 1,229 pounds.
The money was good, said Holland, a retired firefighter. But the real thrill for Holland and many others who enter the contest is seeing what can be coaxed from the thick soil in their backyards.
Giant pumpkins are the ultimate thing to grow. Its the largest vegetable. These things can gain 30 pounds a day at their peak, said Holland, whoalso grows extra-tall sunflowers and giant cornstalks (up to 20 feet) for fun.
A special pumpkin seed, cooperative weather, a heavy dose of luck and a lot of practice are the essential ingredients for a giant pumpkin, Holland said.
"All the information is out there — there's no real secret. It's just who works the hardest and has the best seed," he said.
Holland gives one of his champion seeds to anyone who orders a copy of his how-to movie, titled "Holland's Land o'Giants." Holland sells 500 DVDs a year, priced at $30 on Amazon.com.
Few real farmers take part in the contest, which has become dominated by hobbyist growers who parlay their success into lucrative seed-selling businesses.
Half Moon Bay farmers John and Eda Muller, who set the all-time record for San Mateo County on Monday with a 679-pound Atlantic giant they named Vincenzo, were among the only full-time farmers to compete.
"It gives us some recognition of the hard work we all put in to survive in agriculture. We have to keep the tradition alive in San Mateo County, because there's so few of us left," Muller said.
No Coastsider has won the Half Moon Bay competition since 1977. Back then, the winning "giant" was only 200 pounds. A lot has changed since then: On Saturday, a Rhode Island farmer set a new world record with a 1,502-pound pumpkin at the Southern New England Giant Pumpkin Growers Championship.
The process of cross-pollinating winning seeds with other giant pumpkins has accounted for the staggering increase in size for Atlantic giants over the past few decades, according to Holland.
"I think it's a process of natural selection — growers saving seeds from their largest fruit each year and crossing them with other giant pumpkins," he said.
This year, seeds from the Rhode Island winner would auction off for $500 each, estimated Gary Miller, a Napa landscaper whose 1,280-pound pumpkin set a state record at the Elk Grove pumpkin weigh-off this Saturday.
"Everyone wants to find that magic seed," he said.
For Miller, it's not about the money. The reaction he gets when he goes anywhere in public with his giant pumpkins makes the months of work to grow them worth it.
"They're magical. When children look at them, ... if you could read their minds, it's like they believe there really is a Santa Claus," he said.
Even though Monday's competition featured gigantic pumpkins scientifically grown, Monday's runner-up, 11-year-old Amanda Zunino of Los Altos Hills, says her secret has less to do with Mother Nature. She grew her 1,191-pound pumpkin in her backyard with her father's supervision and whispered Robert Frost poems to the gourd, which she named Artemis.
"I gave it a lot of love and a lot of manure," she said.
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So, Paddy, how 'bout a dispatch from the Southern New England Giant Pumpkin Growers Championship. 
And Beacher, notice the winner was from Puyallup!
