Pumpkin Smash

Annual Event est 2021

Every November, right after the last jack-o’-lanterns have slumped on their porches, we gather in the garden for one of my favorite traditions: Pumpkin Smash. It’s loud, joyful, slightly cathartic, and somehow environmentally friendly.

In the days leading up to it, we do a neighborhood pumpkin pickup—cruising around town collecting people’s old pumpkins (the ones they’re finally ready to say goodbye to). By the time we’re done, we’ve got a whole carload of goofy grins, uncarved big boys and perfectly respectable gourds that just need a good sendoff.

Then we meet in the garden and let loose. People stomp, swing, toss, drop, and generally obliterate pumpkins in whatever way feels right. There truly is no wrong way to smash a pumpkin.

All those shattered pieces get folded into the compost to break down over winter and quietly turn into nourishment for the next season. And every spring, without fail, a few volunteer pumpkin vines pop up, enjoying the growing season before their inevitable return.

It’s destruction with purpose—community-powered, delightfully chaotic, and one of the happiest ways to mark the shift from fall to winter.