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nPostednon November 7, 2015
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n(First Saturday of November)
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nThenfirst Saturday of November is Pumpkin Destruction Day at The RocknRanch in Georgia. People are able to bash, smash, chunk, or dropntheir pumpkins. There are pumpkin-bombing planes (hmmm…this worriesnme a bit!), pumpkin-demolishing monster trucks, and pumpkin archery.nThere is a 50-foot fork lift from which you can drop your pumpkin,ngiant hammers with which you can smash your pumpkin, and even ancannon with which to shoot your pumpkin (with a satisfyingnsquish-splash when hit hits the ground). There are games of pumpkinndarts and pumpkin bowling.
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nInnother ways, you can destroy and demolish your pumpkins in almostnevery way possible!
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nBynthe way…I think it is interesting that The Rock Ranch sellsnpumpkins earlier in the fall. They advertise that they sell allnshapes and sizes of pumpkins. Many families enjoy taking autumnnphotos in the pumpkin patch early in the season – and, I imagine,ntake less-beautiful photos of Pumpkin Destruction Day!
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nOrnvideos…
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nInwonder if they play music by Smashing Pumpkins during thenevent?
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nOfncourse, smashing pumpkins can be satisfying because they arenpartially hollow and filled with yucky guts. Just remember to never,never squish/squash, destroy/demolish, or otherwise smash pumpkinsnthat do not belong to you!!
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nIngot to wondering…
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nAsnI saw the elephants squashing pumpkins video I linked to above, I realized that the zoonorganizing the event called it “the Squishing of the Squash.” AndnI got to wondering about the difference between squashes, gourds,nvegetable marrows, and pumpkins.
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| There are so many variations in color in the pumpkin / squash / gourd / marrow family, you can create a sort of mosaic with them. |
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nIndiscovered that there is quite a bit of overlap between these names –nwith one word or another used for a particular variation depending onnwhere you live. The only hope to sort them out is to use speciesnnames…but even that is tricky, because each species name includes anLOT of what I think of as very different foods / decorative gourds!
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nFirst,npumpkins, gourds, squashes, and marrows all belong to the familynCucubitaceae, which also includes melons and cucumbers.
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nThatnfamily is subdivided into 125 genera, one of which is Cucurbita.
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nThengenus Cucurbita includes four species that we commonly callnpumkins, squash, gourds, or marrows:
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nC.n pepo
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Zucchini n
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nmostn jack-o-lantern pumpkinsn
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nacornn squash
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ndelicatan squash
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nmostn ornamental gourds
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nvegetablen marrows
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nzucchini
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npattypan
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nspaghettin squash
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| Vegetable marrows |
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| jack-o-lantern pumpkins |
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nC.nmaxima
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nhubbardn squash
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ngiantn pumpkins
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nbuttercupn squash
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npinkn banana squash
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ngrayn banana squash
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njarrahdalen squash
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nkabochan squash
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nwintern keeper squash
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nCinderellan pumpkins
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| Cinderella pumpkins |
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nC.nmoschata
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nbutternutn squash
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nfuttsun squash
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nLongn Island cheese pumpkin
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nwintern crookneck squash
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nPennsylvanian Dutch crookneck
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nSeminolen pumpkin
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| Butternut Squash |
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nC.nargyrosperma
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ncushaws
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nAnotherncommon “gourd” is another genus:
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nLagenariansiceraria
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ncalabash,n or bottle gourd
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| Calabashes |
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nMostnof the pumpkins, gourds, and squashes are from the New World,nspecifically North America, but of course many of these names arenfrom Old World languages such as Italian (zucchini) and Frenchn(pumpkin, which comes from pompon).nThe calabash is an Old World plant often used for making water containers.
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nAlsonon this date:
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nNewnEra Day in Tunisia
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nPhysicistnMarie Curie’s birthday
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nPhysicistnLise Meitner’s birthday
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nAnniversarynof the collapse of a bridge
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nNationalnCat Week
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nPlannahead:
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nChecknout my Pinterest boards for:
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nNovembern holidays
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nNovembern birthdays
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nHistoricaln anniversaries in November
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nAndnhere are my Pinterest boards for:
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nDecembern birthdays
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nHistoricaln anniversaries in December
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