Friday, September 27, 2013

Strange Veg

There are quite a few folks who express concern over Genetically Modified Organisms.  Mostly they fret about plants that have had various genetic stuff spliced into them.  It seems a fair question, but  I have observed that the anti GMO crowd seem overall to be reasonably well fed and so I consider it unlikely that they are surviving entirely on acorns and walnuts harvested from the forest floor.

I wonder how they feel about Giant Vegetables?

I must confess my first exposure to the concept of growing huge vegetables came from a viewing of Wallace and Gromit, Curse of the Were Rabbit.


But as a hobby it has caught on, and our local Oktoberfest has had a "Giant Pumpkin" competition for the past two years.  Other "stuff" also gets brought.

I think it was an off growing season this year, or perhaps the real heavyweights were coming in at the last minute.  But here are a few, presumably modified, entrants shortly before the competition began.


These things get big enough that gravity, or perhaps tidal forces, have effects on them.  Middle aged slump is not exclusively a human problem.  The old gaffers on the park bench seem to be enjoying the spectacle.


A large punk, warts and all.  It looks like a beached technicolor manatee.


A turnip....I think.  For reference that is a three pound tomato on the left.

But my favorite Strange Veg of the year.  Not even on display, it was sitting on a counter back in the office.  Maybe a little too risque for small town America?

A Ruebenesque root of some sort.


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