3,156 pounds of pumpkin: the first gourd past 3,000 pounds, grown like a baby

Ron Wallace of Rhode Island has grown a pumpkin that weighs 3,156 pounds — the first pumpkin in history over 3,000 pounds, and his third Guinness world record for the heaviest ever grown. NPR's telling of the giant-pumpkin world explains how such a thing is even possible: Wallace grew his champion in a greenhouse and gave it dozens of gallons of water a day. Growers start with Atlantic Giant seeds, pollinate by hand rather than trusting bees, and track their plants' family trees back to great-great-grandfathers, because in this hobby genetics is destiny and the plants, as growers put it, are treated and cared for like babies. The afterlife of a giant is nearly as wonderful as its life: champion pumpkins are carved into record jack-o'-lanterns, turned into boats for pumpkin regattas, dropped from a 170-foot crane, or fed to zoo and farm animals — and Wallace will harvest his seeds and give them away to growers' clubs across the country, so next year's giants start from this year's giant.