By Diana Ruggiero

Since it is October and the harvest holidays are fast approaching, what better time is there to appreciate one of nature’s most useful squash—the pumpkin? Pumpkins have many uses besides being made into pies or having silly pictures carved into them. Here are five of the more unconventional uses for these awesome orange gourds. So next time you find yourself bored and in possession of a pumpkin…

1.“Chunk” it.

There’s something about pumpkins that make people want to launch them as far and as high as possible. Maybe it’s how, upon landing, they explode in a haze of orangey goodness. Maybe it’s a manifestation of an unconscious desire to assert dominance over nature by flinging squash around. Maybe it’s just fun! In any case, “pumpkin chunking” (also called pumpkin chucking) is a big deal in places all over the country and the world. The first annual World Champion PunkinChunkin contest was held in Sussex County, Delaware in 1986. Participants in the contest use air cannons, trebuchets, catapults, and a variety of other mechanical means to try and throw a pumpkin as far as possible. This dabbling in gourd ballistics has luckily only resulted in one death at the official contest—someone’s pumpkin hit and killed an innocent duck (once). The Guinness World Record for chunking a pumpkin is currently 5,545.43 ft (that’s over a mile!) by air canon.

2. Turn it into a boat.

The pumpkin boat is possibly the most fantastic and ingenious invention in the history of nauticagricultual engineering. While you sit at home and carve goofy faces into your pumpkins, these visionaries, these artists, these pumpkin sailors, are carving their pumpkins into works both beautiful and functional. Pumpkin boat races are held all over the country, with participants carving out giant pumpkins (and oftentimes decorating them to be more personalized) and paddling, or even motoring, their way toward victory. I can’t stress enough how utterly brilliant I find it that someone would think of using a hollowed out 600-900 pound pumpkin to float around in. It sounds like something out of a quirky children’s storybook. But no, this is real life. People make boats out of pumpkins. That fact right there invokes in me one of the most elusive feelings—that simple and pure sense of childlike wonder.

3. Slather your body with it.

It seems as though home-made skin treatments can be made with just about every edible substance in the kitchen. Pumpkins are apparently no exception. Numerous online recipes exist for making pumpkin based facial masks, body butters, and scrubs. Pumpkins have enzymes, antioxidants, vitamins, and a host of other cosmetic buzzwords that promise to leave your skin fresh, healthy, and smelling like squash. That isn’t a bad thing! Squash, in addition to being a marvelously fun word to say (squash, squash, squash!), usually smells pretty darn good, especially when baked into delicious pie. However, I wouldn’t recommend smearing pie all over your body in an attempt to smell good. That’s kind of weird.

4. Bowl with it.

I guess you could potentially use any vaguely round-shaped object as a bowling ball. However, pumpkins are pretty much the biggest fruit or vegetable that could possibly be used to knock over pins (or whatever else you feel like bowling over). You could use empty soda bottles, oblong boxes, small children. . .the possibilities are endless. Pumpkin bowling is the perfect activity for any Halloween party! In fact, I’m not sure when else it would be at all appropriate to try and knock things down by rolling pumpkins. It’s pretty lame out of context.

5.Run around naked with it on your head.

I wouldn’t have included this if it wasn’t something that people actually do. It began in the city of Boulder, Colorado. The town’s annual Halloween tradition since 1998 was to run down the streets wearing absolutely nothing but a hollow pumpkin on your head and shoes on your feet. The local police force isn’t so keen on the idea, however. In recent years they’ve threatened participants with charges of indecent exposure and potential sex offender registration! As a result, it’s uncertain if the event will still be transpiring in the future (darn the establishment). However, the event’s official website gives the assurance that you don’t have to live in Boulder, Colorado to be a naked pumpkin runner. “For those of you fortunate enough to be living where ever you happen to be, or to just be living for that matter, you can still carve yourself a pumpkin, put it on your head, strip down, and run your little heart out.” Wise words, indeed.