A Madness of Pumpkins

DEBORAH CROMBIE: When I was a child (back in the dark ages I admit) I remember having one autumn pumpkin, and that was for carving a jack-o-lantern on Halloween. I don't remember my mother ever festooning the inside of the house with orange squash, nor were there any pumpkins decorating porch or driveway. Times have certainly changed! I give you my daughter's porch as an exhibit! 

Those mums are almost as big as Wren!! They didn't cart all these pumpkins home themselves, by the way. There are pumpkin decorating services! (What I'm wondering is whether the service will also come and take them away?) This makes the two tiny ones I put on my front doorstep this year look a bit sad, but that little pop of orange color is still cheerful.

I debated buying more, and bigger, ones for the front steps, but then did the calculations–not only would I have to carry them from the car, but also back to the trash bins at the end of season. We don't have a big compost pile and I never much like putting a bunch of rotting vegetables in the landfill.

But it's not just Americans that have gone pumpkin mad. I run across ex-pat Brits who will tell me that the British don't do pumpkins, or Halloween, but I beg to differ. Look around anywhere in London, where gourds abound, or at this shot of Tulley's Pumpkin Farm near Gatwick Airport just south of London. Check out their link above--it's atonishing.

Those are some serious pumpkins!

This started me thinking about the economics of the pumpkin craze, and what a boon it must be to farmers, whether here or in the UK. I just read in my Dallas paper that this summer's drought in the Texas Panhandle reduced the pumpkin crop by about a third and the farmers are suffering.

I have to say I do love all the displays, they are so bright and cheerful, and I'm all in for anything that gives our farmers a cash crop. How about it, fellow Reds, do you go all out for the seasonal squash?

LUCY BURDETTE: I love looking at the displays as well! We were so sad this year because the pumpkins did not come up in John's garden. Last year we probably got 20, put a bunch out ourselves and gave the rest to the neighbors. This year we have two tiny mini pumpkins on the dining room table and that’s it. But I think yours are adorable!

JENN McKINLAY: I’m more of fake headstones on the front yard decorator than pumpkins on the porch. When the Hooligans were young, we carved pumpkins and put them out, saving the seeds for roasting, natch. But once they outgrew it, I was over it. The headstones and skeleton come out every year, unless I’m traveling during Halloween. I do love other people’s pumpkin displays, however!

HALLIE EPHRON: My neighborhood goes mad for Halloween, but not so much for pumpkins. It’s more blow-up plastic tarantulas and skeletons sitting on roofs or leaping out of attic windows.

My Jerry was a master pumpkin carver and every year we’d set one that he’d carved in our front window. And I’d wash and roast the seeds that got came out of it. One year I even rescued the pumpkin the day after and made a pie. 

This year I have 2 smallish pumpkins on my front steps, courtesy of my lovely daughter who is now living part time with me. (Lucky me!!) I’m hoping she will opt to carve it as we approach the end of the month.

RHYS BOWEN: My pumpkin carving always left a lot to be desired. Triangle shaped eyes and mouth at best. Since the kids left home I have two ceramic pumpkins I put out with candles in them, but that's about it. We have so few children in my neighborhood that it hardly seems worth decorating.

 

But this year, now that I have my daughter Anne living with me and she is creative and enthusiastic, we may even carve pumpkins and put out a ghost or two.

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I’m a harvest-time/Hallowe’en/Thanksgiving decorator, so I like my pumpkins, mums and gourds. I have several big ones on my porch steps; I like the way they look on the stone, with the last daisies and asters. After Oct 31, I’ll add a few gourds and, if necessary, replace the mums with decorative kales. Happily, I DO have a compost pile, so everything goes back to the soil one way or another.

When my kids were young, of course, we did jack o’lanterns, and sometimes I’d supplement them with uncut (and therefore longer lasting) pie pumpkins. I’ve had many a pumpkin pie in my time, but made fresh from the squash is the most delicious!

DEBS: I love your display, Julia, and now I'm a bit sorry I didn't do my steps as I usually do, alternating pale blue and pale pink pumpkins. I love the weird colors!

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Ah. Um. No. Nothing. I am more a huge basket of mums person. Should I get a pumpkin? I will never make a pie of it, so maybe I’ll stick with the flowers? I am fond of Halloween but more as an observer. I’m not the Halloween Grinch, I promise!

DEBS: Hank, everyone should have at least one pumpkin, even if only a tiny one for your dining room table! I've put a little one on my coffee table and and also on my dining table, and they make me smile every time I look at them.

How about it, dear REDs? Do you have a plethora of pumpkins? Or do you save the squash for pumpkin pie?