In case you missed it, we are hosting one of our most favorite events of the year, our Fall Open House, tomorrow, Saturday 10/27 from 4:30 until sundown. We have so many fun events planned: yoga, a petting zoo, food trucks, live music, and so much more (check out more information on the vendors and activities here). We can’t wait to see you.

One of the spookier activities with the kiddos we are leading at the Fall Open house tomorrow is the Make Your Own Veggie Monster station in lieu of pumpkin-carving. We are using our veggies to create the scariest monsters we can, and are inviting the youth or the young at heart to do the same with us tomorrow night. Since we don’t grow pumpkins at the farm, we love the idea of playing/building with the veggies that we DO have (and do it often as you'll see below). However, all this talk of veggie monster-making and pumpkin-carving piqued our interest in two Halloween-related mysteries that we aim to answer/address this week on the blog. First of all, why don’t we grow pumpkins at JBG? Next, where did the whole pumpkin/Jack O’Lantern ritual come from anyways? Buckle up because we're going to get to the bottom of both these questions today! Read on below if you dare.

Jack O'Lantern. Design and photo by Lauren Helmer.

Why don’t we grow pumpkins at the farm?

This question might have been on your mind for quite a while now. Well, as you might have noticed, fall can be a really rainy time (cue: boil notice), and pumpkins aren’t keen on too much rain. Simply put, too much rain can cause powdery mildew which makes the pumpkin crop lose all its leaves and ultimately die. It’s a risky crop this time of year, especially here in Central Texas. Our head farmer, Brenton, tried to grow them in his backyard garden when he began farming and never saw the crop to harvest. Since we are all organic, we cannot use insecticides or fungicides to ward off insects and disease; thus, pumpkins in the fall just aren’t in the cards for us. We could grow them in the spring as the conditions are right, but who wants pumpkins in the spring? We could also grow them in the greenhouse, but the yields would be so inconsequential that only about 50 people would get a pumpkin! So, we will have to stick to our veggie monsters.

Broccoli art by Amy Gallo.

Veggie Monster by Niki.

More veggie monsters + bunny by Amy Gallo.

Where did the whole Jack O'Lantern tradition come from?

We did some digging and found that the whole Jack O’Lantern tradition hails from Ireland and the UK. The legend revolves around a nefarious character known as Stingy Jack. He liked to get drinks with the Devil, and one night when they were running short on funds, talked the Devil into transforming into money so that they could pay for their hefty bar tab. Once the Devil turned into money, Stingy Jack put the coins in his pocket next to a cross which rendered the Devil useless and hindered him from shape-shifting again. Stingy Jack made the Devil promise that he wouldn’t claim his soul when he died, and to also stay away for a year. The Devil agreed and Stingy Jack allowed him to change into his previous form. A year rolls by and we find the Devil and Stingy Jack hanging out around some fruit trees. Stingy Jack tricks the Devil into climbing up a tree to harvest some fruit. Once the Devil is high in the tree retrieving snacks, Stingy Jack carves a cross into the tree trunk which traps the Devil. Stingy Jack makes him promise that he won’t come back for another ten years… the Devil abides and they both go on their merry way. However, Stingy Jack ends up dying soon after. Since God didn’t want a reprehensible person like him populating heaven, he banned him. Since the Devil promised he wouldn’t claim his soul, Stingy Jack was gifted a piece of coal from the Devil to light his way while he wandered the earth in the afterlife. Stingy Jack put the coal in a turnip to hold and light, and as legend has it, has been wandering ever since. Alas, the “Jack of the Lantern” or shortened “Jack O’Lantern” tradition was born.

Much like we are improvising and using fall crops that we cultivate at the farm, the Irish and Scottish originally used turnips and potatoes (the British used beets!) for their Jack O’Lanterns. They put them on their doorsteps or windows as protection to ward off Stingy Jack and other wandering evil spirits. When folks started immigrating to the United States, they found that the native pumpkin was the perfect vessel for their continuation of Jack O’Lantern tradition across the pond, and boom, the pumpkin carving tradition was created! Spooky!

Natural veggie monster. Photo by Ada Broussard.

RSVP for the Fall Open House here, and see you there! ‘Til next time!