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PumpkinsWhen I grew up in the 1950's Halloween was pretty simple. We carved a pumpkin, put a candle in it, and placed it on our front steps every night during the last week of October. We hoped none of the high school kids would smash it, or at least not before Halloween. To my memory, they never did. We dressed up in simple costumes - I was usually a hobo and my sister Ruth Anne was a ballerina, or later, a witch. We went to door to door in our own neighborhood. This meant getting, perhaps, a dozen miniature candy bars, some candy corn and penny candy, the unwelcome apple, and, from Mrs. Costello, at least one full-sized 10-cent Almond Joy. Oh boy.
Now Halloween is big business. Yard decorations, store-bought costumes, special lights, parties. For all I know, there might even be Halloween songs and movies. But one constant remains: jack-o-lanterns. And although there are plastic, store-bought ones, most kids still want to get messy and carve a real one. And for the lucky kids, growing the pumpkin is still part of the process.
If you didn't grow pumpkins this year, don't despair. Instead, go the Pumpkin Festival in Keene, NH on October 21. In case you've been living on Mars since 1991 when the festival started (and don't know about it), the Keene festival holds the Guinness Book of Records first place for the most lit pumpkins in one place anywhere in the world, 28,952. When I spoke to Suzanne Woodward, the Event Coordinator, she explained that it is not coincidence that they have more than ten thousand kids display their jack-o-lanterns. They hire a pumpkin grower to supply schools in the area with free pumpkins. The kids carve them for the festival, which is free for all ages. The event is a fund raiser for more than 50 non-profit organizations that sell food and raffle tickets to the throngs. They raised over $150,000 last year - on a rainy, stormy day. There are craft tents, 3 stages with entertainment, a costume parade, marching bands and finally at 9 pm, fireworks. And, after 8pm, your kids can retrieve and take home the pumpkins they carved. Pumpkins are displayed on towers made of scaffolding - some 40 feet tall. For more information, go to www.pumpkinfestival.com. Keene's pumpkin grower, Walt Gladstone of Fairlee, Vermont, admitted that this year was less than perfect for growing pumpkins. He grows 150 acres of them alongside the Connecticut River, and lost 30 acres of pumpkins to flooding. But he did all right with the rest of them. His secret? He is a dairy farmer, too, and milks 800 cows. They provide him with plenty of free manure, which he spread liberally. He said he uses fresh manure (not aged manure) in the pumpkin patch, and his pumpkins love it. As a conventional farmer, Gladstone is not adverse to using a pre-emergent herbicide, which keeps the seeds in fresh manure from germinating and competing with his pumpkins. Organic gardeners can beat the weeds by laying down black plastic. It has the advantage of throwing warmth back up to the vines, which pumpkins like, especially on a cool summer like this one. I don't use black plastic to keep down weeds in my garden because it's ugly, and can create little pools of water for mosquitoes to breed in. I also don't know if the plastic changes soil characteristics by restricting the flow of air and water to the soil organisms that benefit my plants. Carving pumpkins are generally bigger than pie pumpkins, and less flavorful. But you can cook carving pumpkins - just simmer the flesh to eliminate some of the moisture before mixing with other ingredients. Below is Karen's recipe for pumpkin pie:
Jack-o-lanterns are fun, and we generally carve one every year, even now that I'm getting to be a bit of a geezer. But Karen's pies are the best part of growing pumpkins. Warm from the oven with a little whip cream? I think I'm in heaven. Henry Homeyer is the VT/NH associate editor of "People, Places and Plants" magazine. Write him at gardening.guy@valley.net or P.O. Box 364, Cornish Flat, N.H. 03746.
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Last update: Sunday, October 8, 2006 at 3:32:30 PM. |
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