By Lucy Murray
Head gear, poo and a whole lot of love were Albany grandmother Hannig's secrets to growing a 159.5kg giant pumpkin, taking out top honours at the Lower Kalgan Pumpkin Fair on the weekend.
Mrs Hannig, who entered the competition for the first time on Saturday, puts down the success to growing her whopping pet pumpkin to the size of a dog house to some expected and some rather unexpected key ingredients and a dose of good old-fashioned beginners luck.
Key to growing a giant pumpkin is a lot of tender love and care, says the winner of the annual Lower Kalgan Pumpkin Fair. Credit: Lucy Murray
"I didn't know how to grow [a pumpkin] until it was quite big, and then I looked on the internet and I found that the biggest danger is that they just collapse and I was just lucky, purely lucky", she said.
"Because we have a bore I would water it twice a day and give it plenty of cow manure and sheep manure, about once a week I would put some sort of fertilizer on it.
The community comes together to celebrate everything gourd.Credit: Lucy Murray
"And I put a sun hat on it to stop it [from] burning and to keep the hail and the rain off it, and a fence around it to keep the wind and the dog off it".
Mrs Hannig started growing the pumpkin to compete against her grandson to teach him about growing plants and as a chance for them to spend some time together.
"I just wanted him to make the effort to compete against [his] grandmother for the competition", she said.
But unfortunately his seedling died and only hers survived. But Mrs Hannig vowed they would both be back next year.
Butternut snake at the Lower Kalgan Pumpkin Fair.Credit: Lucy Murray
The annual pumpkin pandemonium celebrates everything gourd, with a pumpkin soup competition and pumpkin loaf, pie and scones for sale, raising money for the local community hall and the resurfacing of the tennis court in Kalgan.
Bob Millard, event coordinator of the fair, said the most important part was the way it brought the community together and gave the town a sense of belonging.
"The value of these shows is not whether you make any money or not, although it is nice to make some money, it is the way we brought the community together today, just over humble pumpkins. See how it is buzzing here that is the value of keeping the community alive", he said.