"Pumpkinstein" by Tony Dighera of Cinagro Farms
Photographs by Monica Almeida and Cinagro Farms
Photographs by Monica Almeida and Cinagro Farms
Via: The New York Times and ABC News
Tony Dighera of Cinagro Farms
is the Victor Frankenstein of organic farming. He spent the past four
years on his 40-acre farm in Ventura County, CA perfecting the creation
of molded produce in effort to create a perfect pumpkin version of
Frankenstein’s monster. Creating the plastic molds for the pumpkins and
figuring out how to use them was a tricky process. First he had to
design the mold and work out the best material from which to fashion
them.
Digheria is also thinking about future holidays. Keep an eye out for heart-shaped watermelons for Valentine’s Day and skull-shaped white pumpkins for Halloween 2015.
"If it’s not right, it can accelerate the rotting of the fruit. There’s also the timing of mold placement. It has to be done with the fruit’s small enough to fit inside, but there’s a risk the fruit will turn during it’s growing process and snap away from its stem."All the time and effort has paid off as Dighera has harvested approximately 5,500 Pumpkinsteins this first year. His crop sold out to suppliers months ago at $75 per reanimated head pumpkin, which is enough to cover all the money that he’s put into his project over the past few years. Retailers expect to fetch at least $100 per Pumpkinstein as Halloween draws closer. Next year Dighera plans to devote his entire 40-acre farm to molded pumpkin production and aims to harvest between 30-40,000 Pumpkinsteins.
Digheria is also thinking about future holidays. Keep an eye out for heart-shaped watermelons for Valentine’s Day and skull-shaped white pumpkins for Halloween 2015.
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