I feel guilty about it, but I have to come clean. We actively participated pumpkin-top removal to create three jack-o-lanterns to celebrate the season.
But we offset our footprint by using locally grown, organic pumpkins. Very local, in fact, all three came from our garden. We've tried in the past but never had a pumpkin survive until Halloween, but this year we had a more robust crop, due to their organic situation: they grew in our compost pile.
Happy Halloween!
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6 comments:
You can't get more local than that.
Alas, unleaded fuel was used to pick up our pumpkin.
All is not lost though. We picked it up at farm while my wife & I birded the Lake Erie shore and after it has done its job of beckoning Trick or Treaters it will be tossed in the compost bin.
Can't think of an appropriate Smashing Pumpkins lyric to end this comment.
Bob
We didn't really intend to be so green about Halloween. We were prepared to take our usual trip to a local farm but happily opportunity knocked from our compost pile. I have to say, they weren't the most workable pumpkins: smaller than usual, and really tough.
The insides are already back into the compost bin, though next year we might try a different pumpkin . . that we can recycle into a pie!
I can't help with a Smashing Pumpkin lyric. Though I generally like their stuff, I only understand a quarter of what they're singing about.
Happy Halloween!
-Mike
You don't keep the seeds? We always remove the seeds from the gunk, clean them off, and bake them with garlic salt and a little chili powder on a baking sheet. It's super easy, and might just be my favorite thing about halloween these days. :)
Nate - this is the first year we didn't collect and prepare the seeds, things just got too busy. We started to separate the seeds from the "gunk," but it got late and we just rolled our eyes at each other and let it go.
After reading your recipe we'll certainly be doing it again next year. We've been missing out, seasoning the seeds only with salt before baking; I figure that's due to my wife's southern cooking style.
I suspect your favorite thing about Halloween will be changing in the next couple of years: one of the best parts of parenting is re-living all those childhood experiences through your kid, and Halloween ranks right up there with the other top holidays. I even enjoy my birthday again.
Of course, pumpkin seeds can always linger as a close second!
-Mike
The seasoning is key. Perhaps the seeds are just a vehicle to eat lots of garlic and chili powder on something.
You're probably right about Halloween changing. This last one was slow going, but once the kid realizes there's candy in it for him he might get more excited. Of course, he'll need to realize what candy is first.
Nate - our experience was that no matter how we tried to keep candy off the radar, it crossed the horizon while we weren't looking. Not that we deprived Reina, candy just wasn't part of our routines.
I think the best that can happen is it doesn't become the focus, which is kind of what's happened with us so far: Reina is somewhat ambivalent towards it, but as of this weekend has discovered the joys of a certain brand-name peanut butter cup.
Best of all, she's pretty good about sharing!
She does like pumpkin seeds, though the chili powder may be a deal breaker. She's not keen on the spicy.
-Mike
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