Give Three Cheers For Pumpkins!
Long before pumpkin spice became a marketing season, pumpkins had a cozy place in our lives. A fairy godmother looks at one and sees a carriage. Linus waits patiently year after year in his sincere pumpkin patch. Our loyal friend Jack Pumpkinhead looks upon us with his perpetually carved smile. Jack-o’-lanterns light our porches, picture books fill our laps, familiar friends visit our televisions, and pumpkin pies fill our bellies.
Perhaps that is why pumpkins feel so nostalgic. They remind us of stories we grew up with, scents of our mothers and grandmothers, traditions of pumpkin patches and pumpkin carving, and the childhood understanding that pumpkin is no ordinary fruit.
It seems to me that more and more I am seeing pumpkins get a bad rap, which is disappointing as we move further from the familiar pumpkin. I realize that large corporations turned pumpkin spice into a sales tactic that has since gotten quite out of control, but I hope that we don't allow mass corporations to ruin something so wholesome.
A pumpkin is not a corporate coffee shop’s pumpkin spice latte or the flood of pumpkin-spice products that followed its success.
A pumpkin is a natural fruit that grows while the sun is warm and the days stretch on, it shades us and our soil with its large wide leaves, and when our days grow colder and shorter, our pumpkins are ready for harvest to warm our bellies, light our porches, and nourish our gardens for next year’s harvest.
“It was time to take the pumpkin out of the pot and eat it. In the final analysis, that was what solved these big problems of life. You could think and think and get nowhere, but you still had to eat your pumpkin. That brought you down to earth. That gave you a reason for going on. Pumpkin.” Alexander McCall Smith, The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency
Side note. One of my favorite book series is The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, and somehow, I have yet to find someone who loves this series as much as I do. If you are a fellow fan, please let me know!
Back to pumpkins. This blog is simply here to give three cheers to pumpkins in hopes of bringing us out of our PSL crankies and back into our love relationship with this seasonally orange fruit.
Three Pumpkin Books That Are Must-Reads
Picture books are not just for children! They hold incredible artwork, meaningful stories, a rich range of vocabulary, and a bit of nostalgia that helps remind us of our values and our place in the world.
If you haven’t picked up a picture book recently, give it a try. Check one out from your library or give a used book a new home. I especially love finding an inscription inside that shares a bit of its history.
If you do take up my suggestion, then here are some great pumpkin reads to get you started.
Strega Nona’s Harvest by Tomie dePaola - Strega Nona is a grandmother to all of us, and like all good grandmothers, she has a bit of a magic touch. Like all good stories, this one has a twist, and in this particular story, the twist is quite large.
Stumpkin by Lucy Ruth Cummins - This book has become a bit of a cult favorite in our
family. Every year since discovering it, we have made sure to have at least one Stumpkin of our own.
A pumpkin tip inspired by our beloved Stumpkin: Never carry a pumpkin by its stem. The stem can break easily, leaving the pumpkin more vulnerable to decay, and making it considerably harder for that poor Stumpkin to find its autumn home.
Sweet Home Alaska by Carole Estby Dagg - Although this is not a picture book, it still
deserves a place on our pumpkin reading list. Our family began reading it aloud years ago, but life became hectic and interrupted us before we could finish. I have since lost track of our copy, but I am anxious to check it out from the library and finally complete it.
I do have a dangerous love of Alaska and giant pumpkins though, so if we finish this book, we may have to move again. And don’t worry, I already have Zillow set to send me homes in Palmer and Wasilla.
Three fun pumpkin facts!
Pumpkins are old.
Pumpkins are not a modern autumn trend. Pumpkins and their squash relatives were first domesticated in the Americas approximately 10,000 years ago, making them one of our oldest cultivated crops.
A Pumpkin Flower Gets Only One Morning
A pumpkin vine may produce flowers for several weeks, but each individual flower opens for only one morning. From dawn until around noon, bees must carry pollen from the male flowers to the female flowers. By afternoon, that blossom’s brief opening has come to an end.
Pumpkins Float
Pumpkins are approximately 90-92% water, yet whole pumpkins float because their hollow centers hold trapped air. And this brings us to our next subject, pumpkin events!
Do I love pumpkins enough to follow pumpkin-related events? Why yes, yes I do, and you should too. Here are three to check out for yourselves.
Alaska’s Midnight Sun Great Pumpkin Weigh-Off! I blame the Berenstain Bears for my love of a combination of fairs and giant pumpkins. You can find great giant pumpkin competitions anywhere, but my ultimate favorite is watching the annual weigh-off for pumpkins grown beneath Alaska’s long summer daylight. The state fair, held in Palmer, Alaska, shares the event information and results through their social media links here:
Instagram: @officialalaskastatefair
Facebook: Alaska State Fair
Morton’s Pumpkin Recipes. Morton, Illinois has been holding its annual pumpkin festival since 1967! In 1978, the Governor of Illinois declared Morton as the “Pumpkin Capital of the World”. They even have a book commemorating the first 50 years of their celebrations that you can check out at their library or purchase and have all to yourself (I don’t own this yet, but someday I will).
But what makes this festival special to someone who doesn’t live in or near Morton, Illinois, is their annual Pumpkin Festival Recipe Challenge! Home cooks compete by creating their own sweet and savory recipes which are then judged on taste, innovation, and presentation. To top it all off, the winning recipes get published online for all of us to try!
This year’s winners included pumpkin mousse domes, pumpkin-stuffed miniature peppers, pumpkin Pop-Tarts, and Pumpkin POWsta with sage cream, brown butter, and crispy prosciutto.
West Coast Giant Pumpkin Regatta In Tualatin, Oregon giant pumpkins are grown, hollowed out, turned into boats, and paddled across a lake! I first learned of this event a few years ago and have followed it online ever since. I don’t attend in person because crowds, but I do get quite excited just knowing this is happening within driving distance of my home.
Facebook and Instagram: @CityofTualatin
Though I have yet to successfully grow even one small pumpkin, I do dream of growing a huge pumpkin and having some pumpkin boating fun here with my own community! For now, I live vicariously through these events and through the Pacific Giant Vegetable Growers.
Don’t forget to mark these or pin these for next year!
Eventually, even the longest pumpkin season must come to an end. So what can we do when our pumpkins are ready to finish their season? Here are three inventive ways to get the most out of your pumpkin (our newsletter provides more creative options, so sign up for more ideas with links).
Option 1: Create a Pumpkin Jack Experiment
Pumpkin Jack is another great picture book by Will Hubbell. In this book we follow Tim and his very first jack-o’-lantern named Jack. When Jack started to mold and rot, mama wanted Jack to go in the trash. Tim made a different decision and thanks to that, we now have the ever so popular Pumpkin Jack Experiment which you can watch here Homeschool Science Experiments | How Do Pumpkins Grow? | Pumpkin Lifecycle Experiment, and again, you don’t have to be a child to do this! You have permission to learn in the same hands-on and experimental way that we did as children.
My family has tried this three years in a row and have yet to grow another pumpkin, but we are getting closer!
Option 2: Eat or Preserve It
If your pumpkin is uncarved, untreated, and still clean and sound, you may be able to cook or preserve it!
Oregon State University Extension has fountains of information with how to freeze, dry, pickle, or pressure-can pumpkin safely: Preserving Pumpkins and Winter Squash
OSU’s Food Hero also offers several approachable pumpkin recipes:
And don’t forget the seeds! They can be cleaned, seasoned, and roasted for a simple and delicious snack.
Option 3: Donate It
Know a nearby farm, hobby farm, a neighbor with backyard pets? I bet they would love to have your pumpkins. I know we would. Our livestock love pumpkins, they bring enrichment to their days, I get to have more pumpkins in my life, and it saves us on cost of feed. It’s really a win all around. Plus, maybe by reaching out to some local small farms and neighbors, you make a new friend.
A word of support. Another option? You’re allowed to throw your pumpkin away! I know we see a lot about pumpkin waste, but not every pumpkin needs to become a project or a learning lesson.
If you are just trying to get by in life right now, an option is to throw your pumpkin in the trash and move on without guilt. I support you!
The moral of this post? Don’t let large corporations or social-media pressures turn you against a fruit that has brought us comfort and joy for generations.
Let’s keep a little of the fairy godmother’s ingenuity, hold on to Linus’s hope, and welcome Jack Pumpkinhead’s carved smile. Pumpkins have nestled themselves into our stories, traditions, gardens, kitchens, and homes for generations, and I think we should keep them there.
While you’re at it, order yourself a pumpkin spice latte, preferably one made locally.
Three cheers for pumpkins!
Hip hip hooray!
Hip hip hooray!
Hip hip hooray!
Now go have yourself a pumpkiny day.
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