Ari and his magical pumpkins Survival of the Fittest: A Sequel to Last Year’s ‘A Homegrown Halloween Story’

Ari and his magical pumpkins Survival of the Fittest: A Sequel to Last Year’s ‘A Homegrown Halloween Story’

You may recall the story of 7-year-old Ari Galper of Westlake Village and the tragic fate of his homegrown pumpkin in last October’s Acorn.

After aimlessly tossing a pumpkin seed from his previous year’s pumpkin onto his home’s front hill, Ari discovered a single pumpkin had developed on the ensuing vine. Alas, one night before young Ari was to pick and carve the pumpkin for Halloween a neighborhood "scrooge" came by and ripped the pumpkin from the vine, smashing it onto the driveway at Ari’s house.

Though Ari was disappointed, he was able to save some of the seeds and planted them again last July 4th. Once more, the family planted seeds in the garden for a large pumpkin patch and Ari aimlessly tossed a seed onto the front hill just for fun. Not one seed grew in the garden.

But in the exact spot, in the same manner, a vine emerged on the spot where Ari had tossed his one last seed. Just as it had the previous year, the vine grew down the sidewalk and produced but a single pumpkin.

Ari Galper

Ari hopes that this year he will be able to have the privilege of picking his very own homegrown "magical" pumpkin right off the vine in his front yard.