Re:1009 pumpkin or Squash??
In a message dated 11/25/00 1:22:06 PM Eastern Standard Time,
carlson@sanasys.com writes:
<< HEy we did the best we could
with a tough call.....I'm sure there will always be those monday morning
quarterbacks that SEE things differently!! Later >>
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I hope you're not calling me a monday morning quarterback. I have
deliberately stayed away from this thread to let others do the questioning
until recently. It just seems that if the "fruit" is a show stopper " like
1009 lbers they get an added benefit of the doubt. If that fruit was a
650lber , would be deemed a pumpkin ? No-one wants a squash or
squmpkin----until it becomes a "marquis specimen"....then its ok and becomes
a "close call". Lets face it....a squumpkin is a squash until its bigger
than a pumpkin....then its a pumpkin. Thats not the way to judge a fruit and
its not fair to everyone.
In order to be completely fair there needs to be a clear,systemwide method
for fruit determination.Something a grower can use to evaluate his situation
prior to delivery to weighoff. To depend on the individual opinions of the
judges without clear-cut universal boundaries will no doubt lead to second
guessing,claims of unfair rulings , and grower disdain.
I hope to include the 746Sherber and 1009Sherber as candidates for next
years patch. I grow squash on purpose and this isn't a problem for me.But I
do feel that the 1009 if only 650lbs and at my local weighoff would be kicked
out as a squash. Unfortunately,this isn't the way its supposed to be.
As stated earlier, I've tried to stay away from this thread. My squash vs
pumpkin "schtick" is mostly inventive fun--just to spice up the list and irk
a few growers who take this too seriously ....I've been accused by my Mom and
wife as being an instigator for 40 years now....I plead guilty. I
deliberately kept quite when Al Eaton (a pumpkin god in my book) suggested
Duncan's list only include official squashes. I asked for a definition of
"official" and failed to get one. What i wanted to say was "why would the
squashes need to be "official" if the GPC,WPC,and IPC don't give a hoot about
them? Has anyone seen a list of the top 10 GPC squash results?Nope.The 807
and 823 squashes from Anamosa aren't on the list but should be in the top 10.
Why put a restriction (officiallnesss) on a list of fruit that there's no
real reason to have officially weighed? The prize money isn't there...they're
arent even squash catagories at most GPC sites. They want the officialness on
the squash weights to , perhaps maintain the position as leading governing
body on squash ? I my opinion (thats all it is) they are not the governing
body on squash. I see more and more growers leaving their 500lb squashes at
home and bringing their 400lb pumpkins on the first Sat. of October. The
squashes end up at State fairs and Agricultural events where all AG's are all
squash---orange or purple,---and rarely fit the definition requirements of an
"official weight." Thats where mine go now. You cannot have it all...
There is a definite problem with this squash-squmpkin-pumpkin thing that
nobody is denying.I think its fortunate that we have a forum like Duncan's
(thanks Duncan ! )list where we can express our pumpkin/squash views,initiate
debate, and perhaps maintain a civility that all too often is lost.
I also ask Duncan to include squash on his squash page that might not be
"official" but that need to be "verifyably weighed and witnessed "......I
appreciate all comments on these ramblings but you may want to email me
privately---this topic wears some people out real quickly...........Glenn
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