Pumpkin Jack's excellent autumn adventure

The leaves are falling, the air is getting cooler and I am getting bigger every day. It's hard to believe that just a few months ago, I was a tiny white seed. Now look at me!

Pumpkin Jack and this friends. (Photo via Shutterstock)

My long vines are spread all across the ground and I'm turning from deep green to the most beautiful orange color you can imagine. Let me introduce myself. My name is Pumpkin Jack.  

My friend Ol' Gourdy tells me stories from his life. He says that fall is the best time of the year for a fresh, full-grown pumpkin like me. Ol' Gourdy isn't so fresh anymore. His color is faded, and don't tell him I told you this, but he's getting pretty squishy in his old age.

Actually, looking closer, he's starting to attract worms and beetles. These bugs are eating him and turning him even more mushy as the days go on, but Ol' Gourdy doesn't seem to mind. 

Last week a family came by and chose one of my friends — picked him straight off the vine! The family was chatting about what type of face they were going to give him. When I asked Ol' Gourdy what that meant, he explained that's how he got his smiling face last year.

Smiling face? I didn't see much of a smiling face anymore. It was sort of sunken in and collapsed, but Ol' Gourdy didn't seem to mind.  

Ol' Gourdy past his prime. (Photo via Shutterstock)

He described the day he was picked from his vine. That a happy family came to the pumpkin yard and chose young Gourdy from hundreds of other pumpkins. He was so proud.

They took him home and carefully carved him a happy, smiling face. They put him on display for the whole neighborhood to see. He was glowing with delight — and he was also glowing because they placed a lovely candle inside for his smile to shine.

Ol' Gourdy went on to explain the excitement the autumn season brings. He almost seemed to be glowing again talking about all the fun he had.  

I asked Ol' Gourdy how he got back here to the pumpkin patch. He began to tell me of a grand adventure he took with the family to the Forest Preserve District of Will County. Wait — I thought pumpkins aren’t allowed in the forest preserves. I heard we can make animals sick if they eat us. Not only that, but us pumpkins are not native to Will County, and we harm the fragile ecological balance of the area and smother delicate native plants that wildlife depends on for survival and ...  

Ol' Gourdy cut me off and told me to relax. The Forest Preserve was holding a special event just for us pumpkins! I couldn't believe what he was telling me.

I don't know if you know this about pumpkins, but we are thrill-seekers. We aren't meant to just sit around being a decoration then get thrown away in the garbage can to sit forever in a landfill. We have a life to live! We... 

Ol' Gourdy cut me off again to tell me more about the thrills of this special event called Pumpkin Smash. There were so many fun things to do there. There were games and activities to enjoy on a beautiful fall day. After the family explored and played in the preserve, they took Ol' Gourdy and the rest of their pumpkins and launched them through the air toward a target way below.

Wow, what a rush of energy! This caused the pumpkins to get a little dented and smashed up, but Ol' Gourdy didn't seem to mind. The thrill was worth the damage.  

The family picked up Ol' Gourdy and the rest of their pumpkins for more fun. Because they had brought so many pumpkins, they placed Ol' Gourdy and his still smiling face in the back of a big pickup truck. The family brought the rest of the pumpkins through different stations to be smashed and smushed. There were baseball bats and tools, kitchen utensils and kiddy pools — all in the name of compost!  

Uh ... compost? I asked Ol' Gourdy to explain compost to me. I had never heard of it before. He said compost is made from organic waste, things like food scraps, leaves, lawn trimmings and even pumpkins like us! Ol' Gourdy showed off his little helpers, the worms and beetles that were crawling throughout his body.

Organic material ready for the compost pile. (Photo via Shutterstock)

Those magical little helpers are called decomposers. They turn fruits and vegetables, pumpkins and gourds into healthy, nutrient-rich fertilizer.  

OK, but that still didn't explain how Ol' Gourdy got back here to the pumpkin yard. He went on to explain what happened after the Pumpkin Smash event. He said after all the pumpkins were smashed and stacked into the big pickup truck, the truck drove to the pumpkin yard and dumped everything into a big pile. At the top of the pile of smushed and gushed pumpkins, Ol' Gourdy sat with his smiling face. Slowly, the worms and beetles found this pile-o-pumpkins and started their decomposer magic.

As the worms and beetles worked diligently to break the pumpkins into smaller pieces, the pile got smaller and began to shift, causing Ol' Gourdy to roll down into a ditch filled with dirt and compost from previous years.  

There he experienced all the seasons. The freezing cold of winter, the thawing of spring and the heat of summer. He told me that's when I showed up. Me, a little seed that came from inside Ol' Gourdy. I took root and began growing my long vines that would support me and my friends as we grew into big orange pumpkins that will make families smile throughout the autumn season.

Kids ready to smash pumpkins at Pumpkin Smash. (Photo by Brittany Schaller)

Hearing Ol' Gourdy's tales of the fun he had at Pumpkin Smash made me feel a little left out that I missed out on such a fun adventure. But Ol' Gourdy reassured me that Pumpkin Smash is an annual event — that means it happens every year!

This is such good news because just about the worst thing I could imagine would be to spend the rest of my days in a landfill. I sure hope I get lucky enough that the family who picks me to be their decoration this fall will bring me on a grand adventure to the Pumpkin Smash events from noon to 4 p.m. Nov. 8 at Hidden Oaks Nature Center in Bolingbrook and Plum Creek Nature Center in Beecher!  

It's sure to be a great time for the family, me and my pumpkin friends, and the environment! All in the name of compost!