Pumpkin lanterns? Seriously? When I were a lad, you had to risk life and limb carving out a turnip with a teaspoon and a blunt knife!
Yet, whether it's because of the increasing Americanisation of our culture, or simply due to Health and Safety, pumpkins do suddenly seem to be popular this side of the pond too!
I hadn't quite realised HOW popular though, until I drove past a local farm on Saturday and saw a huge number of people tromping about in one of their fields selecting Halloween pumpkins, despite the fact the rain was absolutely pouring down!
The farm in question had grown maybe a couple of acres of different varieties of pumpkins, plus about the same to make a 'kale maze' for kids, along with other activities. You can get a good flavour of what was on offer by reading
this blog post.
All in all, this struck me as the perfect smallholder venture: grow your crop throughout the summer, then have a few mad weekends selling pumpkins, soup, burgers and whatever other produce you have to Joe Public (coincide lambs going away so you have fresh meat to sell, etc etc). Then, once Halloween is over, relax and get back to peace and quiet! I can't be the only one who would hate the idea of opening to the public all year round, but would do it for a short time if it brought in cash to keep things afloat the rest of the year.
Any thoughts folks?