The Pembroke Pines community garden was recently filled with something that wasn’t part of the season’s harvest: Pumpkins.
The pumpkins were the focus of the Ghoulish Guardians pumpkin carving contest ahead of the city’s annual Boo-ville Halloween event at the Pines Recreation Center. Families lined up at the community garden to carve out a design for a chance to win a gift card from event sponsor Whole Foods Market.
The contest served as the first Halloween-related event for the Pembroke Pines Whole Foods store that opened earlier this year.
“We plan on doing something like this every year and make a tradition out of it,” said Jennifer Garvin, a Whole Foods spokeswoman.
Whole Foods donated 60 pumpkins for families to take a knife to, but there also was a special pumpkin that had a design painted onto it.
Studio 18 artist Jacklyn Laflamme painted a design to match the “Ghoulish Guardians” theme. Her pumpkin had one eye falling out, and it held another pumpkin firmly in its mouth. That pumpkin, in turn, had another pumpkin painted within its mouth.
Using fruit as a canvas was a new experience for Laflamme.
“I went with the theme that you have to guard one another in your community,” she said.
One family took the competition to another level by competing among themselves. Liisa Freystaetter put out a Starbucks gift card as a family prize to her four children as they worked on their individual pumpkins.
“We’re all pretty competitive,” said Peter Freystaetter, 24. “We like the Halloween spirit.”
The Freystaetters created designs featuring bats, ghosts with gravestones and scary teeth-filled faces.
“It’s fun to carve it,” said Sharon Freystaetter, 12.
The contest pumpkins were later put on display at Boo-ville, with the winners showcased at Whole Foods. The contest was a way to both have a Halloween event and showcase the community garden, said Jill Slaughter, the city’s curator of special projects.
“We want people to get to know the city and the garden better,” Slaughter said.
The community garden is on a fenced-in parcel between City Hall and the private residences under construction. For $15 a year, gardeners get their own plot to grow what they want. The garden has attracted about 15 committed gardeners since its 2011 opening, said Janis Keller, the garden’s vice president and steward. However, a few have lapsed in their commitments due to family reasons and other issues.
“Most people here are starting out as beginners,” said Keller, a 20-year gardening veteran.
Garden members have monthly meetings to discuss issues. Some of the organic garden’s current crops include okra, squash, tomatoes and asparagus. For Keller, growing crops in the organic garden is a health matter.
“Some people have no idea what gets sprayed on things,” Keller said. “I want to control what’s being grown and live healthy.”
Keller wants to expand the garden’s offerings, but before that happens, the garden will first be packing up in 2013 and moving to another parcel on the City Center property.
For more information, call 954-435-6520.
Chris Guanche can be reached at cguanche@tribune.com.
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