It is so nice to finally say good-bye to summer and hello to fall. Its never a day too soon in my book. I absolutely love this time of year. The air is crisp and Halloween approaches. Halloween was maybe the best holiday of them all when I was younger and its just around the corner. Halloween was cool because it had to do with costumes, candy and pumpkins... but mostly night time mischief just beyond the parental stare. This is what eventually elevated it well above Christmas, somehow gracefully blending the newfound privilege of journeys into the neighborhood AFTER the street lights came on, an awkwardly heightened awareness of girls, and some sobering information on Santa. As one reality faded another was born in the eye-opening realization that personal limits were just laying all about, begging for a test. This was the essence of Halloween, but there were costumes, candy and pumpkins as well. Im starting to see pumpkins everywhere now, and it reminds me of a Halloween story that I CAN tell. I hope it reminds you of something warm and real, or you at least catch a smile. Fourteen springs ago, Jaclyn, my 9 year old daughter bugged me into helping her do a garden. You never know what level of stick-to-it-ness your little princess has until you run the entire gauntlet of, Hey Dad, know what we should do...? and this one hadnt been crossed off at that time. It still held multiple good idea potentials. Why not? So we did it. Well, Jaclyns favorite food at that time was watermelon. Breakfast? Watermelon. Lunch, dinner? Same thing. So guess what we planted? In a 4 row side yard garden, 3 complete rows were saved for watermelon. My job was to help her and her buddy Amanda get it ready, but they were the bosses, naturally. I did suggest a couple of pumpkin plants, for Halloween, but ultimately that was up to them. So I did my part and left them to the joy of seed planting, sign making and the tracking of dirt. Everywhere. I trusted that we could never have too many watermelons but thats just how I roll. The only thing left for us (spelled me) to do was water and weed the damn thing... and watch it grow. Okay, Ill confess, Im not really a farmers kid. I didnt know what to expect from vine-type garden things like watermelon. Man, Im telling you, come to find out, those things can grow! Vines started growing up the side of the house, out into the backyard whiffle ball field and all around, underneath and through the trampoline (15). There were literally vines everywhere! Soon, we figured, wed be knee deep in watermelon. As summer moved along we were consumed by life and little league, girls softball and dog beach. We rarely, if ever, actually went out and watched our watermelons grow. We had things to do. You could kind of sense they were doing good, what with automatic sprinklers and an increased difficulty getting the back door opened and all, but watching them wasnt in our top ten. When we finally did go to officially check on them, those little watermelon flowers had grown into beautiful little... PUMPKINS! An error had been made. We now had two little watermelon plants and three full rows of pumpkin vines on steroids. Uh oh! Always the youthful optimist, Jaclyn squealed, Boy, oh boy, are we ever gonna have a GREAT Halloween! Apparently, at nine years of age, there are an infinite number of Jack-o-lanterns to be carved. At 42, I was developing a more finite approach to this endeavor. That was at once overridden by youthful enthusiasm. Not mine of course, but it still works in pretty much the same way for dads. So I began the work of rotating pumpkins to avoid lopsidedness, pruning out a few so the others would grow huge, and eliminating whole vines with dozens of pumpkins... when the kids werent watching. By late September, we were the talk of the neighborhood. Sensing an impending plethora, I began setting out pumpkins on the curb with a Free Pumpkins sign. Soon it was a Take As Many As You Want sign. Followed eventually with a Seriously! We Have Waaay TOO MANY! sign. Although we certainly impacted seasonal pumpkin sales in our neck of the woods, it really didnt seem to matter. The pumpkins were everywhere. Side yard. Back yard. Everywhere. There were times when I could only roll 2 or 3 pumpkins into a full sized wheelbarrow just to get them to the curb. Little ones? We had hundreds! At T-minus two weeks till Halloween the carving began. Trimmed down to the finest 20 or so pumpkins, we had choices. With so many options just a butcher knife away, there is absolutely no stress factor into the decision of which kind of pumpkin face to carve. Remember THAT dilemma? As a kid, I had to choose this path carefully and I dont think it was in my DNA structure to do so. I always had but one shot at my Picaso-lantern. We, as a family that fall, experienced no such stress. Trust me. Happy face, scary face, goofy face, one tooth, toothless, trees, seascapes and motorcycle logos. We had them all! I even devised a few power tool adaptations to expedite the gut, clean, and carve pumpkin production line we progressed into. It worked well, but with a slight down side that I can admit to now. It seems that a careless wave of a pumpkin encrusted power tool, while on, is capable of throwing bits of pumpkin virtually anywhere in a house. Should one be unaware this has occurred, a dried pumpkin bit stuck to something somewhat resembles a dead bug... or maybe even dried snot. One should know this should one be expecting a visit from The Child Protection Services anytime soon. Just a heads up. It turns out that there is more to know about the whole pumpkin farming thing than just growing them willy nilly on the side of your house like they were watermelons or something. Little known fact...a 30 pound pumpkin has AT LEAST 60 pounds of pumpkin guts in it. Ive done the math. These are pumpkin guts that, by getting in all the way to the shoulder sometimes, need to be shoveled out with some kitchen or garden tool not specifically designed for the task. The guts can then be discarded. Fact... on any given serious pumpkin carving evening... one, maybe two hefty trash bags can be filled with pumpkin guts to be set out for the trash man. Trust me, you DO NOT want to miss that last step. Agriculturally speaking, there is a final step in this cycle of life, if youre shooting for the complete experience. Pumpkin seeds. I will never again underestimate that dude who squeezes seeds out of pumpkin guts so we can buy a whole bag of them for a buck twenty-nine. Honestly, its like work only harder! Oh yeah, we had seeds. Bags and bags of them, all carefully at first, then later in piles roasted on cookie sheets. How many single dads do you know own cookie sheets? I had to get 3. We roasted them with butter, without butter, salted and salt free. Oh yeah, we had seeds... and we also had a good time. A very good time and with lots and lots of giggles. By Halloween however, we were back to buying seeds in the bag. Did we save some seeds for next years crop? Nah, I think we were pretty much over it by then. We could cross off pumpkin farming finally. I think puppies(9) were up next. Enjoy your friday... It could be tomorrows story.
Posted on: Fri, 18 Oct 2013 12:40:41 +0000
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