It’s a pretty big Deel. Sully and Lydia Deel of Sunny D Farms in Williamson recently harvested a 901-pound pumpkin from the patch on their farm. The family moved to the farm and event center last April and anyone interested in getting photos with the pumpkin can contact Lydia through the Sunny D business page.
“The farm had a decent garden area already established so I started planting various vegetables and I decided I wanted to try out pumpkins. Since I didn’t really know anything about pumpkins, I looked up how to grow them and that is when I discovered the wonderful world of giant pumpkins. The only giant pumpkin I ever knew about was, The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown. I never thought I’d grow one,” said Sully Deel. “It looked like a serious challenge and I am certainly no expert gardener. But I decided, even if I only grew a 100-pound pumpkin on my first year, at least I would start learning how to grow a bigger one next year. All I did was take the information I got from expert pumpkin growers on YouTube, Google, etc. and implemented it.”
Their kids, baby Rosalie, Everly and Brady watched as their dad worked to grow the biggest pumpkin possible. Brady, 4, even got to name the pumpkin and he chose Baby Shoobie as the name for the giant pumpkin.
“My kids knew I wasn’t an expert. All they saw was me read pumpkin information, watch pumpkins videos and go get dirty. They know now, that you don’t have to be an expert, you just have to get started. They know that hard work pays off; but also smart work. I practiced only what the record holders recommended. I spent about 200 hours of hard labor from May 2 when I planted my seed in a pot, until Oct. 1 when I cut it from the stem on this one pumpkin. That’s one heck of a hobby. People may not know, but a pumpkin is a fruit. So, if my kids learned anything, it’s that lots of dedicated work, produces A LOT of FRUIT!”
Sully’s goal was to grow a 1,000-pound pumpkin and he plans to shoot for 1,000-pound pumpkin next year and hopes to beat the Georgia state record in the future, which currently sits at 1,304 lbs. Despite playing in the Guinness World Record’s longest softball game (five days and 59 minutes), he managed to grow around 150 other pumpkins of different varieties in his patch. Those pumpkins will be donated to the City Of Refuge kids and House Of Cherith ladies to paint or carve or just enjoy. They visit the farm about once a month.
For more information, go to facebook.com/SunnyDFarms.