pumpkin tossing

Today we went pumpkin tossing.

It's a post-Hallowe'en tradition (well, this was our first time, but in my opinion it has "tradition" written all over it...), and it was a brilliant parental pre-emptive strike (if I say so myself) against the inevitable Saturday "Can I play on the computer?" session...

The idea came from a neighbouring farmer, who noted that the sheep and donkey enjoy eating the pumpkins even if they're rotting and "too far gone" for our use...

Sure enough. They loved it. It turns out that, to get a less-than-half-rotten pumpkin to really split open, you half to get pretty good elevation - something that I usually managed, but which was pretty tough for our 9 year old son and his younger friend. They had some trouble just getting the pumpkins over the fence and into the pasture - or if they did, they (the pumpkins) tended not to split open very rewardingly ("rewardingly"...? You know what I mean). So we experimented with pumpkins-in-various-stages-of-decomposition, as well as alternative launching mechanisms (the small garden pitchfork proved popular). Next year we may need to rig up a bit of a catapult...

In any case, the sheep and Jenny the donkey seemed quite appreciative of our efforts, and made relatively quick work of the pumpkins.

A caution, though, if you're considering trying this at home: the bright orange half-eaten pumpkin carcasses are visually quite arresting, and can look rather ominous, if your imagination is so inclined... You might want to consult with your neighbours first...