The Orange Pumpkin Sea
Two things occurred to me recently. I realized something that I particularly love about fall are pumpkin patches.
I remember the first time (and the times after that) looking down from behind the tractor at tiny, big, huge round and not so round orange balls in wonder. Until I went on my daughter’s field trip, I guess I didn’t know they grew that way. I probably never gave it much thought.
My husband and I were driving the other day and there they were. Fields; row after row, a sea of orange. lt never ceases to amaze me. It never gets old.
Speaking of old brings me to the second thing…my babies are all grown up. This is the first year that neither of my girls went on a school trip to pick their own pumpkin(s). It’s also been a while since we went schlepping through the mud at McNab’s Corn Maze.
* Black Kitten on a Pumpkin from AllPosters
Did you know….
Pumpkin is a word with a fascinating history. The original Greek word for this vegetable actually means mellow, or sun-ripened, as most pumpkins grow into full maturity with plenty of sunshine. The original Greek word was modified by the French into pompion, and subsequently became “punkin”; ultimately it reached its final form as “pumpkin.”
In England, the word “pumpkin” is sometimes used to mean a large squash. The English marrow, or vegetable marrow, however, is not a pumpkin, but a long, narrow squash.
As if all of this were not confusing enough, the Algonquin word “squash” actually means green or unripe. Contrast this meaning with the Greek word for pumpkin—mellow, or sun-ripened.
All this talk about pumpkins makes me think about yummy Pumpkin Cream Pie (click for the recipe).