Dear Crabby, It Might be Early to Ask, But Do you Carve Pumpkins for Halloween?
Curious, Jack O.
Well, Jack, I do most years. It’s an old tradition in the Crabby household – carving pumpkins is a glorious event.
We usually plan our attack the weekend before Halloween. We pick up our pumpkins at a local cider mill or farmer’s market or the Stone Wall Pumpkin Festival. Many folks go for the perfectly round, perfectly orange, perfectly Halloween’ish, pumpkin. I look for the odd ball pumpkin with a hefty stem. You see, I like to leave the stem. Most people gut their pumpkins by carving the top off around the stem – not me – I leave the top and chop off the bottom. I use a big hand saw and slice through the orange squash like butter. Then I scoop out the insides from the bottom, leaving the stem and top untouched.
Dear Crabby Gives Advice
This method gives it an unique look. The large stem acts as a sort of hat. I then use power tools to drill out eyes, Dremel in a mouth, and jigsaw a nose. Mrs. Crabby gives me looks that she should save for Halloween and the kitchen ends up looking like veggie murder scene, but it’s all good fun.
We save all the seeds for baking and eating. And we toss the scraps to the backyard critters – boy those squirrels love that stuff. They’re easy to light up as well. Just place a candle on a big cookie sheet, light the candle, and place the Jack-O-Lantern right over the candle (use the stem as a handle). They’re wonderful trick-or-treating front porch friends.
Now, some people like to use templates to carve a pattern into their pumpkin, while others do the traditional three triangles for the eyes and nose. But me, I like use power tools that can get me into trouble. My eyes often get too large too quickly and I may just Dremel off the teeth by accident. But that’s the fun.
So, yes, I carve a pumpkin for Halloween. You should too, have fun, be safe.
While we talking pumpkins, you should Read This Pumpkin Article I wrote three years ago.
Sincerely,
Dear Crabby
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