Farmer floats around in giant 'pumpkin kayak'
A farmer who grew an oversized pumpkin carved out a creative way to put it to practical use.
Justin Ownby grew the 910-pound orange gourd on his farm in Cleveland, Tennessee, according to ABC News affiliate WTVC.
His wife Christin Ownby shared a video of her husband in the buoyant hollowed-out hull paddling through a pond on their farm.
In another video, Ownby did his best impression of "Washington crossing the Delaware," as suggested by a passerby and he stood up only to have the carefully carved watercraft submerge under the sudden weight.
"He has tried for four years to grow giant pumpkins," Christin Ownby told WTVC. "We occasionally grow lots of pumpkins, but this year he put all of his work into the one."
She said her husband used a seed that came from a record-breaking pumpkin previously grown in Tennessee that weighed more than 1,700 pounds to grow his own oversized gourd.
The farmer planted the squash varietal in "a spot where the water ran off easily, keeping it cool in the heat of the day, keeping it watered and making sure that squash beetles didn’t overtake it."
According to his wife, the pumpkin was still floating in the pond last time they checked and said, "It will make a great snack for the catfish!"
