This year for Halloween you could go to any grocery store and pick up the pumpkin of your choice, or you could make pumpkin picking and decorating the best pumpkin an adventure for the whole family! Historic Hawes Farms, located just outside the Redding city limits, has over 20 acres of pumpkins of different sizes, shapes, and colors. With 50 different varieties, you won’t have a hard time with your pumpkin picking, but you might have a problem leaving the patch with just one. The farm has buckboard wagons where children can sit up in front of the wagon to supervise the pumpkin picking and parents or older siblings can pull the wagon along. Once your pumpkin picking is complete, you can place them in the back of the wagon.
Wicked or Whimsical
After you get your pumpkin home, now you need to decide how you want to adorn it. For younger children, you may decide not to carve your pumpkin at all. There are many different things you can do to decorate your pumpkin by coloring in eyes, nose, and a mouth with marking pens, instead of using a sharp object. Add a hat, hair, or even an eye patch to fashion your pumpkin into your design. You can make a pirate or a witch or even a spiderweb.
Let There Be Light
The downside of decorating your pumpkin, rather than carving it, is that no one can see it at night like a traditional carved pumpkin with light reflecting an image you have created. There are many carved pattern ideas out there, or you can just wing it and create a one-of-a-kind original. Don’t carve your pumpkin until just a few days before you want to use it; they don’t last long after they’ve been carved. Pick up a child friendly pumpkin carving kit, and cut the top so that it is at an angle to allow it to sit on top and not fall in. Clean out your pumpkin by removing the meat while scraping the inside walls. Now, let your creative juices flourish and don’t worry if it is not perfect, once you get your light into the pumpkin, a little mistake won’t matter. Don’t throw away the seeds, those can be washed and baked with melted butter and salt to make a great snack.
Ghoulish or whimsical, carved or decorated, whatever you decide to do you will welcome visitors and trick-or-treaters alike with your own special flair. And you and your family will have had a great pumpkin picking adventure!
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