During our agricultural agents' conference on Monday, my staff and I were discussing the large pumpkins and watermelons that are on display at the North Carolina State Fair in Raleigh. It seems that there is a pumpkin up there that weighs well over 700 pounds. If so, this is definitely a record for North Carolina.

But even if it is over 700 pounds, it is not anywhere near a world record. Last year, Mr. Steve Daletas from Canby, Oregon, produced a pumpkin that weighed 1,385 pounds. But that's nothing. I heard rumors last week that someone in one of the New England states produced a pumpkin this year that weighs 1,520 pounds. Now, that's a lot of pumpkin. I'm sure glad I did not have to help move it.

I went to the web as soon as conference was over and found that there are a lot of claims for all kinds of large vegetables. I don't know if these claims are true or not, but one web site told of a 35-pound turnip, 28-pound broccoli, 52-pound cauliflower, 25-pound lettuce, and believe it or not, a 124-pound cabbage.

As I sat in disbelief looking at the articles on the web pages, my phone rang. Even before identifying himself, the caller asked, "What is the largest collard you have ever seen?" With this, my curiosity was really aroused. I began to chat with the caller and found out that he was Mr. J. F. Thorndyke from the Long Branch community. He told me he had collards in his garden that were the biggest he had ever seen and invited me to come out and take pictures of them. Wasting no time at all, I gathered up my digital camera and laptop computer and took off for Long Branch. Mr. Thorndyke is recovering from knee replacement surgery and could only hobble to the end of the garden rows with me, but his lovely wife, Frankie, walked with me to the other end of the garden. As soon as I got close to the garden, I had to agree with Mr. Thorndyke. These were some of the largest collards I have ever seen. But as Mrs. Thorndyke and I walked down the row of collards, they just kept getting bigger. She kept saying "the big ones are at the other end."

As can be seen from the photograph, the largest collard we could find measured exactly five feet across. Mrs. Thorndyke is shown holding one leaf from the collard that is larger than most tobacco leaves.

I know a lot about eating collards, but I don't know much about cooking them. My guess is that this one plant would provide enough collards for a good-sized church homecoming dinner.

The Thorndykes shared with me that the seeds for these collards came from Georgia, but they did not know the name of them. They didn't do anything special to the garden, just a little fertilizer and a lot of rain during the summer.

As we chatted in the Thorndyke's living room, it dawned on me that people may be able to grow large vegetables in other places in the United States, but by gracious, we can grow some pretty large vegetables right here in Robeson County. I know, because I have seen pictures of them in this newspaper.

In fact, there are a lot of things in Robeson County that are much larger than one would normally expect to see. During the recent county fair, Hank and Patti Redfield from Red Springs were displaying a team of oxen, each of which weighed well over 2,000 pounds. Now, that's a bunch of hamburger.

I have decided that someone needs to record these unusual items and display them for others to see. Starting today, I have developed a bulletin board in the Extension Center specifically for Robeson County's biggest. With the magic of digital cameras, it is easy to take a picture, print it out, and place it on the bulletin board along with the owner's name, specifics about the item, and date. If someone comes along later with a similar item that is larger, the old picture will come down and the new picture will go up.

At this point I really don't care what the item is as long as it relates to agriculture. It might be the biggest okra, the biggest cow, the biggest barn, the biggest tractor, the biggest chicken, or anything else you can imagine. Just bring your item to the Extension Center so a picture can be taken. If your item cannot be transported, like the collard, just call me and I will go to your place and take a picture.

Just remember, if you grow a pumpkin larger than the one I mentioned at the beginning of this column, don't call me to help you load it. Just call me to take the picture.

E-mail address: Everett_Davis@ncsu.edu

Mailing Address:
P. O. Box 2280
Lumberton, NC 28359-2280

Phone: 910-671-3276
Fax: 910-671-6278

Date Created 10/24/03