Searching for 'The Great Pumpkin'

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Oct 8, 2005 | by Michelle Beaver, STAFF WRITER

Jim Martin had thousands of adoring fans. He traveled the world and lived nearly every musician's dream, but he's over that now. The former Faith No More guitarist would rather grow pumpkins.

But not just any pumpkins. Huge, mammoth, gargantuan pumpkins that seem to be straight out of science fiction. They're actually from Martin's Castro Valley back yard, nestled between hillsides and a winding country road.

Martin's 1,087-pound pumpkin won first prize last week in a major Santa Rosa contest that drew competitors from across the state.

The Hayward native is thrilled about the win. He's already gearing up for bigger competitions though, including next weekend's Half Moon Bay Art and Pumpkin Festival -- the biggest pumpkin festival in the world.

"It's an incredible contest," Martin said. "It's important enough for CNN to come and report on. I like getting ready for it. Sometimes when I have to go to work I get mad because it takes time away from getting my hands dirty out here."

The former rocker works in a property management company with his family. For six months straight though, he spends every spare moment tending the gourds.

The only other crop he grows is peas.

Why?

"I love peas. I stand out here and eat them," he said. "They never make it up to the house."

Martin lives with his wife of four years, Rain, and their 2-year- old son, Napali. Martin could never grow such huge pumpkins without her, he said. She supports him thoroughly.

"I bring him beer and cigarettes," she said, laughing. "From the time he's home until he goes to bed, he's out in the patch. Whatever he's doing in life, he focuses on it. He's happier growing pumpkins than being in the office. He likes to see them grow and likes going out on his tractor."

When it's time to remove the pumpkins from the patch, it takes the help of more than a dozen people. Mrs. Martin cooks stew and pumpkin pies for them, and keeps the beer flowing, all while chasing Napali.

Most of Martin's friends and relatives don't understand his passion, but fellow competitors do. There is a community of about 20 serious growers in the northwest whom Martin sees at contests and conferences.

The Martins are quiet about Jim's 1980s and early'90s rock days, especially around his competitors, but the secret got out anyway.

"People are mentioning it to me," Martin said. "I didn't want it to get out, but it did, so what can you do?"

Martin likes to live in the present.

"It took a lot of time to recover from those years," he said. "It was an awful lot of work. No weekends, no settling, no family. You hear about how glamorous being in a successful band is, but it's not everything you might think it would be."

Martin looked toward his patch again and said, "Music is what fit then, this is what fits now."

He comes from a long line of farmers and was interested in big pumpkins since childhood.

"I'd see them on TV and think, 'I wonder if I could do that,'" he said.

He's been growing pumpkins for five years and was successful almost immediately. It takes an incredible amount of work though, from May through October.

The pumpkins can grow up to 30 pounds a day, and the tangled mass of vines around them can each grow 2 feet a day. The pumpkins are fenced off from predators and are protected by a tent at night.

The type of pumpkins Martin grows taste wonderful, but the big ones can't be eaten since the poisonous pesticide he uses is systemic.

"I look at them and sure, I feel satisfaction," Martin said. "Growing these isn't all that different than what I used to do in music. If you want to be good, you have to give it what it needs."

And you also need good soil. Martin said he has the best in California.

"Isn't it obvious," the generally serious man asked with a grin as he looked at his award winning pumpkin. "I mean, there's the proof."

1,087 pounds of it.