I've been delighted to receive a number of invitations to food and farming events over the last few weeks and as I've travelled around I've been struck by the amount of stalls selling pumpkins or pumpkin patches along the way. October, for me, would not be complete without a visit to the pumpkin patch at my local farm. We arrive early, grab a wheelbarrow, head to the quieter part of the patch and start selecting. We look for a couple of large pumpkins suitable for carving and a selection of smaller varieties to build a display outside our front door.
Pumpkin patches only began to appear in the UK in the 1990's but the UK is now the largest grower of pumpkins in Europe and they can offer useful farm diversification. Farmers Weekly reported that for many farms growing pumpkins has given them significant extra income and flexibility as farmers can opt to sell direct to customers or to a wholesaler as best suits their individual farm situation. The Economic Times reported that some farmers are earning as much as £30,000 per acre by embracing this seasonal holiday of Halloween.
As a child, we used turnips or swedes to carve out Jack O Lanterns, as pumpkins weren't popular then, a tradition with English and Irish origins dating back to the 1700s. Carrying or displaying the carved vegetables was thought to keep spirits away on Halloween.
Will you be carving pumpkins this Halloween?
Interesting pumpkin blog.
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