HELENA — Over the past two days, Torgerson's Equipment delivered a pumpkin to every first grader in Helena Public Schools. That’s around 600 pumpkins.
Student Jazmyn-Rae Phillips is excited to pick out her own pumpkin for two reasons: “You can eat it and carve it.”
What started as a donation of just seven pumpkins to first graders in Great Falls more than 20 years ago has since grown to 45,000 pumpkins for first graders across the state.
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“So being able to meet with all the first graders and explain where they come from and give them some of the background on it is, you know, bringing agriculture back into the classroom,” Craig Widhalm, the Torgerson’s Equipment office manager, said.
The pumpkins are grown in Hutterite colonies outside of Great Falls. The goal is to show the kids where their food actually comes from.
“Farmers make pumpkins with pumpkin seeds, they water it, care for it, and do sunlight and water and you have to cook this first before eating and you can make it into good pumpkin pie,” first grader Kannon Schlosser said.
The pumpkins will be used for several different educational opportunities. Some will be painted, some carved, some cooked, and some dissected so students can learn about the anatomy of a pumpkin.
“I am going to carve it in a silly way because I like being silly,” Schlosser added.
This year, the deliveries also expanded to first graders in East Helena and Montana City.
