In Kristen and Jason Bush’s Escondido backyard, their family set out to grow monster pumpkins a few years ago.
“This is our COVID hobby that we started with some neighbors. We all said 'hey, let's work in our yards and see how big of a pumpkin we can grow,'” Kristen said.
They hadn't found much success, until this year.
“Third time’s the charm; we got this 465-pounder. Pretty proud of it,” she said, standing next to their massive pumpkin in their front yard.
Her husband Jason is an engineer and made a device to keep it in place, but moving it isn't easy.
The largest of the two Atlantic Giant pumpkins they grew takes at least two people to lift, and a dolly to move around.
Because of its great size, the Bushes thought it should have a great purpose, like being food for animals.
They had some trouble finding a taker until, by chance, something finally lined up on Halloween — the holiday synonymous with pumpkins.
“We're really looking forward to sharing this with the San Diego Humane Society,” Kristen said.
It's going to be donated to two bear cubs this coming Sunday at San Diego Humane Society's Ramona Wildlife Center.
“We always do our best to provide natural enrichment to all of our animals. The bear cubs in particular, it's really good to give them enrichment they can eat or tear apart,” said wildlife rehabilitation supervisor Angela Hernandez-Cusick. “So a 460-pound pumpkin is actually going to be amazing to provide to them.”
Hernandez-Cusick said that pumpkin donations of all sizes are welcome from the community, as long as they're not carved or treated with pesticides.
Their other animals that like to eat and play with pumpkins include bobcats, coyotes, skunks, opossums, and raccoons.
“We'll provide those pumpkins to the wildlife. We carve them out, we give it to them whole, we give it to pretty much all of our species,” she said.
Despite all the difficulty to move the supersized gourds, Bush and her family plan to do it all again in 2024, with even bigger goals in mind for next Halloween.
