WILLISTON, N.D. (AP) - Many people are convinced the growing season here is too short to grow good pumpkins. These people would be wrong, and the proof is in the pink pumpkins grown by FFA students the past couple of years at the Williston Research and Extension Center.
This year’s FFA teacher, Carrie Bolstad, said the project is in part to raise awareness of breast cancer, and in part to raise funds for activities by the FFA club. Meanwhile, Kim Holloway, the horticulturist who oversees the extension center’s part in the program believes the project helps bring awareness of agriculture to a new generation of students.
“Many of these kids, I don’t think have planted anything before,” she told the Williston Herald (https://bit.ly/1MzQBJ0 ).
Holloway taught them to plant the pumpkins down to the first knuckle of their index finger.
“Some of them had pushed their seeds all the way to the bottom, and some had left the seeds lying on top,” she said. “It was fun to watch them learn. I will certainly do this again. If they get the seeds, I will put them in the ground.”
Holloway received a $300 state grant from NDSU extension to buy fabric and irrigation equipment for the student project.
In addition to teaching a young generation about agriculture, she hopes anyone who sees or buys the students’ pumpkins will be intrigued to know that pumpkins do indeed grow well in the region and consider planting some themselves.
“We may not set any records here, but we do grow some nice pumpkins,” she said. “We had one that was big enough you couldn’t carry another pumpkin with it. It was a one-person pumpkin.”
Holloway recommends local gardeners start pumpkins indoors for a head start on the warm season. Transplant them after the last chance of frost, fertilizing at that time. You could then fertilize again in July with an all-purpose fertilizer and a time-release fertilizer in August.
The variety of pumpkin the FFA kids grew is called Pink Porcelain. These will start out yellow, change to orange, and then become pink when ripe. Inside they are orange like any other pumpkin.
Bolstad, who is the new agriculture education instructor for Williston High School, said she particularly liked this project not just because it was a fun, hands-on agriculture lesson, but it brought together a lot of elements into one effort. The kids learned about planting, growing, harvesting and marketing, as well as teamwork and leadership.
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Information from: Williston Herald, https://www.willistonherald.com
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