On friday, November 7th, we harvested the giant pumpkin. When we opened up the top we found that some of the seeds had already started to sprout on the inside. awesome. upon lifting the big baby up we found tons of snails living below. we boiled the pumpkin and pureed it added some apples, carrots, honey and olive oil for facial masks that we donated to john and jackson for their harvestfest. we talked about how it looked like baby food and contemplated the idea of making some baby food for people in los angeles with fresh ingredients from a garden. this was a lot of fun and we are thankful to ellen and david and their gorgeous, perfect deep end ranch.

time for a trim

yesterday, as the sprinklers ran vigorously on the giant kingdom, i took to the patch with my trusty garden shears and trimmed away all the other pumpkins except for papa pumpkin so that he can get all the nutrients he needs to be a winner at the fair. papa's color's coming in too, he's really looking very beautiful.

we're getting there

Yesterday Britt and I visited The Giant Kingdom. It's looking utterly fantastic. There are many smaller pumpkins growing, but Papa Pumpkin is definitely getting quite enormous. We used a piece of wood as a prop for the pumpkin so he won't start rotting underneath. I think it may be time to trim off some of the other pumpkins soon.

In other exciting news, Pepa was born yesterday as well. Congratulations to Josephina, David, and Ellen (along with all the other ranch residents). We welcome you Pepa and are so happy to finally meet you.

a mere 7 days have passed since my last viewing of the great giant pumpkin and unbelievable growth has happened. i think it is safe to say that the baby had doubled in size! this is incredible and a sight to see, a large yellow colored memory that i will never forget, the first time i grew a giant pumpkin with my dear friend alex.

the pumpkin is growing. it is bigger than your average grocery store buy and it looks like it is just getting started. the skin is still a light yellow and is very soft. we got to show it off to everyone in the photo collective (http://heretotherephoto.blogspot.com/) and that was great. i can't wait to visit again and see how grown up the baby will look.

our first pumpkin has arrived

and you're definitely outgrowing your patch

look

what i found hiding amongst the big leaves





very exciting to return to. i fear that our little, or rather not so little, pumpkin patch is getting mildly ravaged by so-called "pests", i evicted a good number of snails, and there is definitely some white flies...tomorrow i will have to find out what the other Deep Enders and members of the Giant Kingdom committee (i.e. David, Ellen, Gerardo, and Stefani) think i should do to improve the health of our beautiful big baby

i also discovered, you, my dear giant pumpkins, are outgrowing the sweet little patch we have built for you, i hope this doesn't become a problem




i foresee great things ahead

this reminds me of when we were in town and we looked down this alley at this kid who had a stick and bottle and seemed thrilled to be playing, pick the bottle up with the stick. we all had a sense of something smaller and bigger at the same time.

a damn good sandwich with fresh eggs from the ranch. thank you deep end ranch for all your goodness and goodies.

Dear Giant Kingdom,
Tomorrow is your big premiere! It's all very exciting. You are now fully equipped with a glowing pink and black sign and a large bird topiary, hand made for you by the lovely Stefani. I am so excited for everyone to look with envy at your beauty and prowess. Tomorrow is the day, perhaps I will offer portraits in the Giant Kingdom.

Lots of love,
alex

a search for giant kingdom in latin lead me to the image on the left, The Duenos inscription is an Old Latin inscription from a vase found near the Quirinal Hill in Rome. The image to the right is a still taken from the MGMT interactive video for Electric feel.

"all the romance languages come from latin" miss cross
"they do, don't they" max fischer
-Rushmore, Wes Anderson

Giant:
Gigas, Gigantos/is N M 3 7 M [XYXCO] giant; Giant; the Giants (pl.); (race defeated by the Olympians);

Kingdom:
regnum, regni N N 2 2 N [XXXAX] royal power; power; control; kingdom;

this weekend!

things are going on when we aren't looking and that is thrilling!

two weeks

since the birth of the giant kingdom and i am pleased to say that on my visit today i discovered 3 new sprouts, plus substantial growth of the one i discovered last week

i also completed the sign

pics will be arriving very soon

grow giant kingdom grow

i just thought i should say that i am anxiously awaiting my next visit to the kingdom.

i began working on the sign last week and i feel like the kingdom isn't complete until the sign is completed.

i was also thinking that if we are growing in the giant kingdom, shouldn't there be a giant king or queen??? perhaps king or queen would be a suiting name for the pumpkin...we could pick a famous queen/king or just call it pumpkin king/queen.
just something to think about

oh i just can't wait to see if our little sprout has grown more, or if there are more sprouts....i'm so excited, like a proud parent

yayayayyayayayayayayayy

GROW GIANT KINGDOM GROW!

we have life!!!

0421081321
Originally uploaded by schmalex

today i visited the giant kingdom, one week after its conception

we have sprouted!!!

here's the crappy picture from my cell phone

alex called on the phone to say that there is some green sprouting up in the middle of our GIANT KINGDOM! this is very exciting news!



on a search for other things giant kindomish, i found this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_Kingdom
check it out!

Every year, Mrs. Rose dreams of winning a ribbon for her vegetable garden at the county fair. Unfortunately, Mrs. Rose goes home ribbonless every time. When she mixes up a special brand of fertilizers, Mrs. Rose is able to grow the biggest vegetables ever! Convinced that this is the year she wins the prize, Mrs. Rose wonders why gardening isn't as much fun as it used to be. Illustrated with color paintings. (alibris.com)

online giants chat: http://www.bigpumpkins.com/

toiled

this weekend we toiled
and tilled
in the sun
all day long

we dug a trench
and built a fence

we tilled some more
and added water

a gate
some mounds
some seeds in the ground

add a little sun
lots of love and care

and in a short while the giants will appear