What’s Up With Pumpkins?
When I was growing up, Halloween was a very special kids’ holiday, mostly because of Trick-or-Treat, but also because of the pageantry of the costumes and the fun and spooky events and parties. It really is a kid’s paradise, and at the center of it all is the ubiquitous jack-o-lantern, which are created as another special event of carving pumpkins on the kitchen table. From my youth, you had two choices in pumpkins: you obviously have pumpkins of all different sizes, from small handheld minis to large, bulbous gourds up to two feet across. I’m not talking about Ripley’s Believe-It-or-Not pumpkins, but just the regular sort you buy at the local garden center. And then there is a basic choice in shape which can be characterized as tall and skinny or short and squat, sort of like people. And that ws pretty much the choice you had. Not so today.
Out here on our San Diego hillside we don’t get a lot of seasonality, but the calendar stays the calendar and there is a difference between winter and summer. It’s less well defined in the fall and spring, but I think its fair to say that the weather now in mid-October feels somewhat autumnal. There is no frost on the pumpkin in our neighborhood, but there has been a foggy mist hanging in the air all day. Granted, it has been in the 60s all day, so it hasn’t been cold by any stretch of the imagination. I had planned to go out for a motorcycle ride to Palomar Mountain, but the morning weather dissuaded me and caused me to divert to a trip to the garden center. I had quite an array of nurseries to choose from since what I was after were smallish succulents to spruce up some planters in the front, on our bedroom terrace and in the side garden. While there are certain nurseries that specialize in more exotic succulents, the truth is that any nursery in this area is going to have quite a good selection of succulents, so I could have headed off in any direction and likely have achieved my goal. As I passed the Golden Door farm stand, an upscale farm stand with all organic produce that supplies their parent Golden Door Spa, I noticed that they had a full compliment of pumpkins on display. At this time of year, lots of vendors use pumpkins in their autumnal displays, but not all are in the business of selling pumpkins. I’m sure that if the Golden Door was selling pumpkins, they would be premium priced, but it did give me cause to call Kim and ask if she wanted me to buy pumpkins at the garden center.
I knew it was a silly question to ask. Of course she wanted pumpkins. When I got to Green Thumb Nursery I knew enough about the place to know that they do not go all-in on any one thing, but rather play the breadth of array to offer their clients. I guess not everyone wants to spend money for a seasonal adornment, but pumpkins are important to get us transitioned to the holidays since they are an appropriate decoration from now until after Thanksgiving. So, here’s the thing. Pumpkins are no longer just pumpkins. Somewhere in the last few decades, they have changed. They now come in a full array of colors and styles. In fact, I think its safe to say that pumpkins are now so much more than pumpkins.
I bought one large regular orange pumpkin, two “Cinderella” white pumpkins, three “Christmas” red pumpkins, two beige pumpkins, one beige and green striped pumpkin, one wart-covered orange pumpkin and a half-dozen small green and orange gourds that are really pumpkin wannabes. That was enough pumpkin stock to decorate both the front and side door steps. We didn’t even carve or draw faces on the pumpkins. All we did was arrange them amongst the succulent planters and southwestern statues (several lizards and one large Native American squaw that we like to call Sacagawea in honor of the guide for the Lewis & Clark expedition).
It’s not like pumpkins are only for decoration. I think the whole jack-o-lantern thing probably caused someone at some point to decide that they might as well use the innards of the pumpkins to make pumpkin pie. I love pumpkin pie, but I really only get to have it at this time of year…which may have something to do with why I like it so much. The other day, I got a text from my friend Mike, asking if we liked pumpkin pie. I said we did and half expected him to come over with a homemade piece of pie for me. Later in the day he happened by and brought with him two large pieces for us. he later called me and asked me how we liked it. Naturally, I said we loved it, which I did, whereupon he confessed that it wasn’t;t homemade, but had come from CostCo. for a mere $5.95. The only think Mike likes more than a bargain is a bargain from CostCo. Mike is anxious to find every opportunity to convince me that CostCo. is the best thing going. I’m prepared to agree with him when it comes to seasonal pumpkin pie.
It’s harder and harder these days to find traces of Americana in our lives, but I dare say that where some people think that Americana is all about being as American as apple pie, for me, Americana is pumpkin pie as the leaves turn color and the air gets cooler.
This time of year there is always someone creating an attraction to give the public an opportunity to celebrate fall. In fact, my son Roger is putting on a Halloween haunted house extravaganza in Delaware.He’s already sold 4,000 tickets he says and tells me that he just hopes he doesn’t get more than 8,000 people on the dozen nights of the attraction since he would then have an overflow. I bet there will be pumpkins and pumpkin pie in evidence. And tomorrow morning, we will take a small local field trip to go to a place called Bates Nut Farm in Valley Center. It’s quite a local attraction that everyone seems to know and yet we have never been. At this time of year that feature what else but a Pumpkin Patch that included a corn maze and hay rides and all the traditional seasonal activities that one could want. This place is so well attended that it even has its own nickname of Nate’s Butt Farm. We will go tomorrow and take Betty with us to check it out and see if its all that everyone says it is. I’m not sure we are in the market for any more pumpkins, but we can certainly check out the varieties on offer to be sure we have adequate representation on our front steps. I wouldn’t want out pumpkin patch to be any less special than the pumpkin-growing community can produce. We might even buy a few nuts while we are at the nut farm and if we can’t indulge too much in the pumpkins. Maybe they will have some pumpkin pie on sale, and if so, I’ll have to buy a few pieces for Mike to compare and contrast with CostCo.