Miranda Lopez's huge cabbage earns her $1,000

Miranda Lopez was the lucky winner of a $1,000 education bond for having tended and grown a huge cabbage.

The contest is part of a marketing program of Alabama-based Bonnie Plants, which awards one $1,000 scholarship in each state that participates in its National Bonnie Plants Cabbage Program.

A third grader at Madonna del Sasso School in Salinas, Miranda's 28-lb cabbage was selected as the best in her classroom, and then her name was entered in the statewide drawing, where here name was randomly selected. On Friday, Miranda will be acknowledged for her cabbage and her efforts by local officials and the California Department of Agriculture.

Any third grade teacher can participate in the program. For more information, click here.

More than  67,415 students took place in the contest, which was launched nationally in 2002.

Congratulations, Miranda. It's marvelous to see how living things grow, isn't it?