Today we have carved our very first pumpkin. It's now sitting on the front stairs, shining very invitingly. Ok, it's askew, unevenly cut and there are a couple of errors (a dozen more like ), but it's ours and it's charming: The girls love it!
I think it looks great. The pumpkin faces are supposed to be a bit askew and uneven so they can scare off the 'things that go bump in the night' on Halloween.
I think you did a fine job Droopy! I hope you saved the pumpkin seed for roasting. mmmmmm. You got the sea right there, all you need is a cup of it and your good to go.
Thank you both for liking our pumpkin. The only thing that might go "bump" in the night is me stumbling over the cats. Biita, we saved a few seeds, but not for roasting. *murmuring angry words to myself* I didn't think about that at all. But Sylvi asked if we pretty please could save some for sowing next spring, and what mother can resist a request like that? I can't possibly roast those.
Well done Droopy. I'll bet you throughly enjoyed carving that pumpkin. It looks great!! There are times when I wish my kids were still young as at home asnd Halloween is certainly one of them. Just think next year you'll have grown your own and will be able to roast as many seeds as you like.
Wow--that looks like a good one to me, Droopy. That is certain to scare-off any unwanted goblins off on Halloween. Perhaps it will keep the trolls at bay as well. we'll hear how it works. I was also amazed to see that plant pot hovering above the head of the pumpkin...you've got magical place there. Is there a spring near-by too?
Good Job!! I like it I think it is so cool that your daughter wants to grow pumpkins next year! What a smart little girl :-D
A very good job for the first one. I guess we won't have one this year. I noticed the stores have a lot of them left this year. I wonder what they will do with them. The large ones are very stringy for eating. My boys always carved them into strange things. We always saved the seeds, too. When I was cleaning the top cupboard last week I found some that I had saved. I wonder if they will still grow. I don't know what year they are saved from. dooley
Thanks all. Sjoerd, good one! Halloween isn't a big thing in Norway, it's more of an excuse to either have a party or go for a walk in costumes. The pumpkins started to show in shops only a few years back, but they've been fairly expensive up until now. I don't know how it will be to grow them here. I think we need a growing tunnel. We'll give it a try and see how it ends up.
Very very cute pumpkin! there are no mistakes in pumpkin carving, all cuts lead to a unique and spooky creation!
Thank you gardenmama. It was fun to do, and the girls want more of them already. I have to confess we used one of yours as a model. The girls were running between table and computer to correct me while I cut.
Very cute pumpkin. My kids always loved the legend of how pumpkins came to be associated with Halloween. It is believed that the tradition originated from an Irish myth about a man nicknamed "Stingy Jack." Stingy Jack was said to have invited the Devil to have a drink with him. Stingy Jack did not want to pay for his drink. So after some time, he convinced the Devil to turn himself into a coin so Jack could use it to buy his drink as well as the Devil's drink. The Devil turned himself into a coin but Jack decided to keep the money. He put it into his pocket where he kept a silver cross. The cross prevented the Devil from changing back from a coin. Jack eventually freed the Devil under the condition that he would not bother Jack for one year. Jack also made the Devil promise that if Jack died, the Devil would not claim his soul. Then Jack died. The Devil was very angry with Jack and because of his promise not to claim Jack's soul, he could not allow him into hell. The Devil decided to force Jack into the dark night with only a burning coal for light. Jack put the coal into a carved out turnip and has been roaming the Earth with it ever since. The Irish called this ghostly figure "Jack of the Lantern," and then, simply "Jack O'Lantern." In Ireland and Scotland, people began to make their own versions of Stingy Jack's lanterns by carving scary faces into turnips or potatoes. They put them into windows or near doors to frighten away Stingy Jack. In England, large beets were used. Immigrants from these countries brought the jack o'lantern tradition with them when they came to America. They found that pumpkins make perfect jack o'lanterns. In America, pumpkins were first associated with harvest time and then became a Halloween tradition. We always carved scary and silly pumpkins and roasted the seeds. It was hard to hide a few from the kids so I could use them for cooking- they wanted to carve or paint every pumpkin in sight! They really enjoyed growing them, I always gave them a prize for the biggest, littlest, weirdest, tastiest, etc. (Everyone always received a prize. This really helped with convincing them that they wanted to help weed the garden!)
