It is October!
That means it is almost Halloween.
That means we need to get our pumpkins, so we will have Jack-o-lanterns, and decorations and all the Octobery kinds of things!
But here in Canada it means something a bit more. We heard about it when we came up for our very first visit. Every year in Windsor there is the Pumpkin Regatta. On a given afternoon people gather to row a pumpkin across a lake. Now, when I heard that I thought, “Wow!” thinking that they were talking about a pond. I mean after all, how can you row a pumpkin across a Lake? How can you row a pumpkin across anything?
So last year Anita and I went! This isn’t a pond! It is a lake! It is nearly a mile across! There were 50ish people rowing! Singles, doubles, quads! It was incredible to watch. And no one fell in! (Thank goodness because it was so cold! We say that a lot here!)
But this year…. After a cold wet spring, and then Dorian….there aren’t enough pumpkins for the race. So it has been canceled.
Which made last weekend even more amazing! We went down to Waterville to the Annapolis Valley Giant Vegetable Growers Weigh Off! The stars of the shows were the pumpkins, but what about a 35 pound cabbage? What about a beet the size of a bowling ball? What about a 100 pound squash?
And did you know that the difference between a squash and a pumpkin is the color? Ahh the things you can learn while you gawk at the GIANT PUMPKINS!
It was an incredible morning, and in many ways it encapsulated the difference of our new world. We were there to celebrate vegetables and the farmers who grew them. The work they put in, getting up in the middle of the night to cover them up, to give them water, to make sure they are all right; the competitiveness between farmers—even between spouses, and brothers and children; the pride they take—all of that rivals anything that happens on a football field!
And it took almost as much time! We were there for a couple hours. You can’t rush things. You can’t rush growing a Giant Pumpkin—even though they can grow 35 pounds a day! It takes time, and several men to move a 100 pound squash, and a fork lift to move a 1400 pound pumpkin. It takes time………………………and so we just sat………………….and watched……………………and relished the experience.
I confess that there were times I wanted to rush off. After all, there were other things that I wanted to do. There was a concert we wanted to go to. There was a football game that night!
But there was something about just sitting there…..and watching pumpkins.
Consider the lilies of the field and how they grow….Mt 6:28
And the Lord God prepared a gourd…Jonah 4:6
Wait for the Lord. Be strong and let your heart take courage. Wait for the Lord. Ps. 27:14
It was almost like worship!