05 Nov Thu 2009
Shorter Days and Pumpkins
The days are getting shorter. So much in fact that we had to carve our annual Halloween pumpkins by lamplight at 3:00 in the afternoon! Overcast conditions coupled with Standard Daylight Time makes for some early evenings.
The kids and I worked hard to open up and empty out the squash while Erica was at the smokehouse picking up the latest round of bacon and ham. The kids were especially attentive to the separation of the meat from the seeds. They love roasted pumpkin seeds. Amost as much as the hogs love the rest of the pumpkins!
We grew many different types of pumpkins this year, including a unique heirloom "Cinderella" variety. The sugar pumpkin that Violet is working on in the above photo earned me an "I told you so" upon Erica's return. It seems that we were saving all the sugar pumpkins for pies. Violet had mentioned something about not carving those...ooops.
The pumpkin scrapers that the kids are using above were given to them for Christmas by their Aunt Julie. I had no idea where they were but Violet and Liev found them on their first attempt. Maybe I'll get the two of them to organize my sock drawer.
We carved a few on our own, and then when Erica returned the fancy carving began. Erica has made some elaborate carvings in the past, including a sweet "PHISH" logo (google it, it looked just like that!), a pumpkin that sported our name, HURRICANE FARM, and a scary witch this year.
The kids have their own carving tools and they did an excellent job on their very own Jack-O-Lantern designs.
They worked for hours on about 10 or so pumpkins. I think that they have me licked on this. The one that I carved pales in comparison to the masterpieces the rest of the family created. Spooky! Scary! Funny! Check out Liev's with the four square eyes (bottom right below). The witch on a broomstick is in the top right.
And there they are, hard at work keeping evil spirits at bay, welcoming wayward trick-or-treaters, and serving as the sole beacon of light in the ever-increasing darkness of Standard Daylight Time.