Tom and the Giant Squash

Photo courtesy of Tom Culton Tom Culton, squash charmer This past Monday, Lancaster farmer, Headhouse poster-boy and frequent Meal Ticket subject Tom Culton took a giant squash on the train to New York to appear of The Late Show with David Letterman. "The segment was People and their Vegetables, and [the producers] cold-called me," explains Culton. "They said, 'We saw you on the internet, do you have any giant vegetables?' I told them I might have something. Grandpa and I walked the field looking for one [...] and sure as shit, there she sat." She was a Long of Naples, a hard-shelled Italian winter heirloom. She was 4 feet long and 70 pounds. This is Culton's first season with the Long of Naples, direct-seeding (rather than transplanting) an acre of the squashes, whose tangled 30-foot vines turned the land into an organic elastic jungle from Guts. "I had a tree fall on this plant, which knocked off all but one of the blossoms." This concentrated the plant's growing energy on a single fruit, and thus, this blue-ribbon bellezza was born. "It was totally God's work, not mine." Once in New York, Culton took the squash on a tour of the city before heading to the Ed Sullivan Theater in Times Square. "I took her in a cab, walked her through Midtown, took her to CVS." After filming the show (which you can see this Friday at 11:30 p.m.), Culton brought the squash to Print, a seasonally conscious Hell's Kitchen restaurant he sells to often. Print's diners that night would be having a TV star for dinner. Steph Posted 2010-10-20 09:55:47

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Tom and the Giant Squash

POSTED: Thursday, October 7, 2010, 4:03 PM

Filed Under: Food News | Food TV

Photo courtesy of Tom Culton

Tom Culton, squash charmer

This past Monday, Lancaster farmer, Headhouse poster-boy and frequent Meal Ticket subject Tom Culton took a giant squash on the train to New York to appear of The Late Show with David Letterman. The segment was People and their Vegetables, and [the producers] cold-called me, explains Culton. They said, We saw you on the internet, do you have any giant vegetables? I told them I might have something. Grandpa and I walked the field looking for one [...] and sure as shit, there she sat. She was a Long of Naples, a hard-shelled Italian winter heirloom. She was 4 feet long and 70 pounds. This is Cultons first season with the Long of Naples, direct-seeding (rather than transplanting) an acre of the squashes, whose tangled 30-foot vines turned the land into an organic elastic jungle from Guts. I had a tree fall on this plant, which knocked off all but one of the blossoms. This concentrated the plants growing energy on a single fruit, and thus, this blue-ribbon bellezza was born. It was totally Gods work, not mine. Once in New York, Culton took the squash on a tour of the city before heading to the Ed Sullivan Theater in Times Square. I took her in a cab, walked her through Midtown, took her to CVS. After filming the show (which you can see this Friday at 11:30 p.m.), Culton brought the squash to Print, a seasonally conscious Hells Kitchen restaurant he sells to often. Prints diners that night would be having a TV star for dinner.

Steph

Posted 2010-10-20 09:55:47

I just wrote a blog entry about Headhouse and included this link.  We are so happy for Tom!

Felicia D'Ambrosio

Posted 2010-10-07 12:26:08

Hot Damn!  Tom Culton is such a rockstar farmer. Still bitter I missed the pawpaws.

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