Saturday, October 21, 2023 | Country Acres South • Page 1 PRSRT STD ECR U.S. POSTAGE PAID PERMIT #278 Madelia, MN 522 Sinclair Lewis Ave Sauk Centre MN 56378
SOUTH SOUT SO S OUTH OU Saturday, October 21, 2023
Focusing Foc using on Today’s Tod Rural Environment
Volume 2, Edition 10
Step 2
Step S te ep 1 PHOTOS BY AMY KYLLO
(Left) Step 1: Grow a giant pumpkin. Jim Courson stands behind his giant pumpkin Sept. 22 in his garden near Eyota. The pumpkin weighs 1,805 pounds. (Above) Step 2: Cut the pumpkin off the vine. Jim Courson cuts his giant pumpkin off the vine Sept. 22 in his garden near Eyota. Courson started the pumpkin from seed in his house in early April.
giant,
Courson grows monster pumpkin
colossal
BY AMY KYLLO STAFF WRITER
EYOTA — The sky was gray and cloudy as a John Deere tractor cautiously lifted hundreds of pounds worth of prized pumpkin into the air. The atmosphere was filled with excitement and a decent amount of stress as months’ worth of grower Jim Courson’s hard work and dreams was upraised. “This is the nerve-wracking thing,” Courson said. Courson lives near pumpkins, watermelon Eyota and grows a variety and tomatoes. of produce including This year, Courson show-stopping giant grew an 1,805-pound
Step 3: Clear away the vines. Jim Courson uses a tractor and loader to clear away the vines around his giant pumpkin Sept. 22 in his garden near Eyota. The pumpkin vines covered approximately 1,600 square feet.
Step 3
ST R
Publications bli ti The newspaper of today is the history of tomorrow.
pumpkin. Lifting the pumpkin would quickly reveal whether there was rot
This month in the
COUNTRY: Watch for the next edition of Country Acres on November 4, 2023
underneath or if mice chewed holes into the flesh. The time spent
getting to that moment was immense. Courson had spent an hour to an hour and a half every day
during the growing season working on his two pumpkin vines and up to two hours a day in peak season. He spent time watering and weeding the plants and burying the vines to protect them from insects and windy days and to aid in better uptake of water and nutrients. The plants can grow 18 to 24 inches in a single day. Before the pumpkin could even be lifted, Courson started cutting it loose from the vines. The pumpkin lay about 15 feet from the base of the vine.
Courson page 2
4
Living our lives with purpose Amy Kyllo Column
10 Home-brewed knowledge Fountain
6
A successful wild goose chase Rochester
14 A careful fall Hunting Safety