Victoria woman grows 323-pound pumpkin, shares journey on social media
While Carmen Spagnola puts a lot of effort into making and tending to her flower garden, the same couldn’t be said for growing her first pumpkin.
"It felt like this random miracle that just happened," Carmen smiles.
Despite doing very little, the pumpkin grew relatively big.
"I’m so in awe of what nature can do," she says.
So Carmen started searching for what she could do to help a gourd grow even larger next time, and found a picture of record-breaking pumpkin producer Dave Chan.
"It looked like he’d won the Super Bowl or something," Carmen smiles, pointing to the photo of Dave with his arms raised in triumph beside an almost 2,000-pound pumpkin.
After contacting him for advice, Carmen went to work on a pumpkin patch that quickly seemed to devour her driveway.
"It just became this relationship that I couldn’t stop tending," she says.
Carmen measured the pumpkin daily, while her husband Ruben calculated its estimated weight and captured her reaction on camera.
The roughly 323-pound pumpkin is shown.
While the pumpkin grew 10 to 20 pounds a day, Carmen’s exuberance also increased.
"All the love and attention and care I was pouring into it was immediately paying back in dividends," Carmen smiles.
So Carmen decided to pay the positivity forward by sharing her pumpkin’s progress (and joyful reactions) on social media.
Along with the exhilarating high of the pumpkin’s rapid growth, Carmen says she experienced the terrifying low of its potentially deadly split stem.
She found solace in a soundtrack of inspiring songs from the 1980s.
"Peter Gabriel’s 'Don’t Give Up' to 'Don’t Stop Believin' by Journey," Carmen laughs.
"And when I was hot pepper spraying it, to prevent a rat from eating it, I started inhaling it, and the song that came to me was 'Take My Breath Away' by Berlin!"
Whether she’s sharing her pumpkin playlist on Spotify or pumpkin pampering on TikTok, the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.
"When I’m feeling joy, it’s triggering hope and possibility in other people," Carmen says. "And that’s not just a cliché, that’s neuroscience."
You see, Carmen works as a trauma therapist and calls joy "emotional nutrition."
"It’s really important that you don’t minimize or negate [joy]," Carmen says. "Whatever delights you, you should share it."
Which is why Carmen’s going to keep the gusto for gourds going and keep it growing past its current weight of 323 pounds. After harvesting this one for Halloween she’s striving to cultivate a record-breaker next year.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Spectacular aurora light show to be seen across Canada Friday night
A rare and severe solar storm is expected to bring spectacular displays of the northern lights, also known as aurora borealis, across much of Canada and parts of the United States on Friday night.
Which Canadian cities have the highest and lowest grocery prices?
Where you live plays a big factor in what you pay at the grocery store. And while it's no secret the same item may have a different price depending on the store, city or province, we wanted to see just how big the differences are, and why.
McGill University seeks emergency injunction to dismantle pro-Palestinian encampment
McGill University has filed a request for an injunction to have the pro-Palestinian encampment removed from its campus.
Swarm of 20,000 bees gather around woman’s car west of Toronto
A swarm of roughly 20,000 bees gathered around a woman’s car in the parking lot of Burlington Centre.
U.S. says Israel's use of U.S. arms likely violated international law, but evidence is incomplete
The Biden administration said Israel's use of U.S.-provided weapons in Gaza likely violated international humanitarian law but wartime conditions prevented U.S. officials from determining that for certain in specific airstrikes.
Barron Trump declines to serve as an RNC delegate
Former U.S. President Donald Trump's youngest son, Barron Trump, has declined to serve as a delegate at this summer’s Republican National Convention, according to a senior Trump campaign adviser and a statement from Melania Trump's office.
Mother assaulted by stranger while breastfeeding baby in her car: Vancouver police
A person was arrested in East Vancouver Thursday after allegedly entering a car while a mother was breastfeeding her four-month-old boy.
'We have laws': Premier Smith says police action justified in Calgary
The actions, including the decision to use non-lethal force, to disperse pro-Palestinian protesters from the University of Calgary campus were justified, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said Friday.
'State or state-sponsored actor' believed to be behind B.C. government hacks
The head of British Columbia’s civil service has revealed that a “state or state-sponsored actor” is behind multiple cyber-security incidents against provincial government networks.