This episode’s guest is Andy Wolf, former president of the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth, an international organization that, among other things, coordinates the giant pumpkin contests featured in the Oct. 26, 2022 edition of the Data Is Plural newsletter. Andy explains what it takes to grow giant pumpkins, how they’re measured, how the community has evolved over the past century, and the pieces of data he tracks to keep his gourds growing strong.

Relevant and mentioned links:

• Weigh-off results from BigPumpkins.com
• Great Pumpkin Commonwealth
• Andy’s website, where you can buy his giant pumpkins
• Andy’s “Pumpkins 101” presentation
• “Little Valley man’s giant pumpkin is North American Champion,” an article about Andy’s top pumpkin in 2021
• The family tree for Andy’s latest giant pumpkin
• A history of giant pumpkin growing, from the Southern New England Giant Pumpkin Growers

Theme music by Nikhil Sonnad.