I love pumpkin patch season. Let’s face it, I love pumpkins and all things pumpkin related. And what’s not to like. Pumpkins are a fun bright orange color although they also come in creepy green, scary yellow, and spooky white. They can be carved. Which means you can be as creative as you want to be. You can carve a classic jack-o-lantern face. You can carve your own face if you want. You can carve a cat or a bat or a hat. Now I am sounding a little too much like Dr. Seuss! But whatever you carve, it is a fun, creative activity.
But there’s more! You can paint pumpkins or use them to decorate for fall. You can cook them and make them into all kinds of yummy foods from breads to pie to soup. They are probably the most versatile squash out there. In my humble opinion, I think pumpkins are a very joyful part of fall.
Did you know that pumpkins have been cultivated since around 7000ish BCE? Not only that but there are pumpkin contests all over the world to see who will hold the rights to the largest pumpkin! Circleville, Ohio is just one of the many locations where pumpkins festivals celebrate this most wonderful plant that brings joy in one form or another to millions of people every year.
And this year the honor of growing the largest pumpkin goes to Travis Gienger, who is a horticulture teacher from Minnesota, and he grew a pumpkin that weighed: 2,749 pounds! That is some pumpkin! It is also a new world record.
Whether you eat them, carve them, decorate them, pumpkins seem to represent fall. The only thing that does fall better are the deciduous trees when their leaves change colors and the landscape if filled with their leaves of bright yellow, red, orange and rust.
And one last fun fact: Because pumpkins are squash, and all squash are classified as a fruit, pumpkins are considered fruit. So, in this wonderful fall season, a season where I miss Ohio very much, enjoy the wonderful pumpkin in all its many varieties.
I hope you all have a beautiful fall!
Peace,
Beth
Beth's Blog 