Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe LOS ALTOS HILLS, Calif., Oct. 10 (UPI) -- Manure, love and a dose of poetry combined to grow one weighty pumpkin for a California pre-teen, good enough to earn second place in an area pumpkin contest. Amanda Zunino, 11, of Los Altos Hills, Calif., read Robert Frost to her pumpkin, Artemis, named after her favorite goddess, as it grew to tip the scales at 1,191 pounds, the San Jose Mercury News reported. Her horticultural talent nabbed second place at the annual pumpkin weigh-off at Half Moon Bay, Calif. Advertisement Zunini did have some help from her dad, Vince, who had grown oversized gourds in the back yard for about 10 years, the newspaper said. The winning pumpkin weighed 1,223 pounds. Grower Joel Holland, a retired firefighter, took the weigh-off crown for the third straight year. His green thumb earned $6,115 in prize money. Amanda wasn't the only contestant from the Zunino household. Her nine-year-old brother Tony won $500 for the prettiest pumpkin.
