PUMPKINS ALIVE!

It’s that time of year. Vines stretch outward, twining around any unsuspecting thing they find and holding fast. Emerald leaves hide the ballooning bulges in murky shade. Yes, PUMPKINS ARE UPON US!

 

We’ve been trying for a couple years now to determine the exact perfect time to start pumpkin seeds in order to have healthy plants by the time the sun warms the ground enough…but not so early they starve for sunlight outdoors. After mediocre results last year on our patio, this year I planted some sugar pumpkin and mini boo seeds indoors around mid-April. Three plants have survived; one mini on our patio just starting to flower:

 

 

Another mini bravely struggling in the garden soil.

 

And THIS beast, which daily attempts to eat any passing children small enough to be consumed whole.  

I have been trying to train the beast up a makeshift cage. It has other ideas. 

  But LOOOOK!  

Mmmm. Yes, my darling, groooowwwww

 If you’ve never eaten fresh pumpkin, there is a vast difference between fresh and canned or processed. The first time I cooked a sugar pumpkin, my tongue was opened to the glory of the Orange Wonder, and it’s impossible to go back to the insipid goop in cans. If you don’t have a spare acre or two in your graveyard or lab to give over to the monstrous vines, some grocery stores sell fresh pumpkin in September and October, and of course it’s always worth a country drive to find local pick-your-own patches. Just remember in that case to bring a sharp stick to fight off any roaming vines, as they’re more aggressive than kudzu.

Don’t just think PIE, although pie is of course perfectly acceptable, if you’re into mundanity. Think chili. Think smoothies. Here are some links to pumpkin recipes (yes, some are Martha, don’t judge me). 

Tineh boos planted by my sweetie's brother Shane.

Another tineh of Shane's.

In other pumpkiny news, the craft stores have Halloween stuff incoming, and our local Goodwills have Halloween aisles already! I’ve nabbed a few things; this is my one consumer weakness. Very happy that Goodwill has so much neat stuff, else I’d be broke. No idea what my costume will be this year; was fairly happy with last year's witch, and the sugar skulls and pumpkin carvings. My sweetie still needs to finish his awesome plague doctor outfit. And we have tombstones to papier-mache and paint. And I have a miniature tableaux to create. SO MUCH TO DO BEFORE OCTOBER.

For anyone else interested in propmaking and home haunting, may I direct you to my friend Sabrina's hauntmaking blog. She is highly talented, and has no skeletons in her closet because they’re all in the basement instead…

Happy Pumpkining!