Pumpkin Crafts and Recipes

Thirty-One Days of Halloween 

Day 3

Pumpkins

Happy 3rd day of Halloween!

Only 27 days left until Halloween.

Today the topic is PUMPKINS! They come in all shapes and sizes, are beautiful to decorate with and taste delicious :)

Have you ever had the privilege in growing a pumpkin? We have. One year,before we bought our Organic Blueberry Farm -Middle Creek Blueberry Farm, someone dear to us let us plant an acre of pumpkins and pop corn on their land. It was a great experience and is what got us to where we are now.

We grew pie pumpkins, carving pumpkins - great big ones and other squash (such as acorn, spaghetti and Hubbard). 

We tended to those pumpkins and corn everyday after work. Watered, picked weeds and checked on them often. I think they grew so well because they could feel the LOVE :)

At harvest we carefully picked each one and loaded them into a truck (which ended up taking 3 or 4 trips)  to Grandma's house. She lived on a busy highway- a perfect place to display and sell the pumpkins. We decorated her yard with the pumpkins, corn fodder, hay/straw bales, squash and even made scarecrows. We also had a vegetable garden and made fresh salsa and had herbs for sale. 

We sold every last pumpkin! Apparently we were the only ones around for miles that had any luck with pumpkins that year-it's the love I tell ya!

Since we moved here we have had a hard time growing pumpkins- we don't use pesticides and the bugs here are much more plentiful. So we purchase our pumpkins from other had working farmers. We got two already, thanks to Andy at the Kingsport farmer's market. One was a Cinderella type pumpkin(field pumpkin) and the other was a green warty apple gourd-makes me think of a witch.

~Pumpkin Decorating ideas~

Paint your pumpkin and add a candle.

Love this Pumpkin Tree

Pumpkin decorating Martha Stewart style. This link has templates, how to and many other ideas.

Geeky Super Hero Pumpkins- For the Geek in you :)

Candy Corn Pumpkins - Check out the Candy Corn projects!

~Pumpkin Crafts~

Tutorial on making these cute Terra Cotta Pumpkins

Twine Pumpkin Tutorial

Beautiful Velvet Pumpkin tutorial

I love these pumpkins! She has some cute designs.

Rustic Wood Pumpkin tutorial

Book Pumpkin - I have made a few of these before

50 Pumpkin Crafts

Here are some fun ways to had out candy for Trick-or-Treat.

Wrap some jelly beans in orange tulle. Twist off with a green or brown pipe cleaner.

or

Wrap candy in orange tissue paper or an orange napkin. Tie off with raffia and pipe cleaner.

Balloon Gift Bag tutorial

~Pumpkin Treats and Eats~

Here is a list of 31 treats

How to cook a Pumpkin

While looking for a recipe I discovered too many good pumpkin recipes to list here. I should make a post just for yummy pumpkin food.

Traditional Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin Pie Donuts

Turn a pumpkin into a drink dispenser

Pumpkins to make you laugh! HA!

Loads of Pumpkin Projects and Recipes

~Pumpkin Games for Kids~

Poke-A-Pumpkin

Ring a Pumpkin

Pumpkin Balloon Darts

Well, I am ready to get to the pumpkin patch this weekend!! Hope you enjoy some pumpkin treats.

Ciao

April

~FriggleFraggle~

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Apple Crafts and Recipes

Thirty-One Days of Halloween

Day 1
APPLES

On the first day of Halloween, I have chosen APPLES. We love apples in this house. Eat them all the time.  Our favorites are Gala and Fuji. We enjoy eating them plain and with peanut butter. Apple pies are always a big hit around holidays. Grandma used to get in the kitchen and make 10 pies at a time. As soon as they were coming out of the oven they were driven over to the neighbors, other family members' houses, and of course eaten at her table. She had the biggest kitchen table I had ever sat at. It was always inviting, filled with delicious foods, family, friends, and laughter. I miss that table and Grandma every day.

Around this time of year, we celebrate by going to the Apple Orchard to pick our favorites right off the tree. It is a wonderful experience for young and old. We would get on the trolley that drives around the orchard and makes stops calling out which varieties are available in those areas. You would raise your hand if interested and he would stop at the variety you wanted to pick. The kids would run around the trees playing and spying "the biggest one" here or there. When you were done picking as many as you wanted you could either walk back up to the front of the orchard or you could wait for the trolley to come back around.

At the front of the orchard, there is a barn that had apple cider, apple juice, and lots of baked apple goodies to purchase and picnic tables to eat at. They also had a children's area where the kids could play games and pick out pumpkins.

Next weekend is the Apple Festival.  Our friend is celebrating his birthday so we will be meeting them at the Spooky Llama trails to see if we can get spooked ;)

Now, how about some apples....

Thinking about having a Halloween Party? Here are some delicious Apple treats

Once Upon A Time or Snow White inspired candy apples. Look at the twigs...

Mini Caramel Apples, Great idea! Less waste.

Bloody Apples -  Great for a Dexter or True Blood-themed Party!

Apple Cider is a must in this house the whole month of October! We actually already bought a jug and finished it off before October even began :) We always drink ours warm, add cinnamon and cloves.

These look interesting. Haven't tried this recipe yet but grandma used to make apple Dumplings that we couldn't get enough of!

Then there is the Classic Apple Pie - Can't go wrong with these.

Lastly, I have to add these. They look fun and spooky. Going to get a bag of cheap apples for this...

Dried Shrunken Heads made from apples Cute but Creepy! Make some for decorations and use some in your Apple Cider.

Tell me what kind of Apple goodies you have this time of year.

Now get some Apples and get busy!

Ciao

April

~FriggleFraggle~

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Pie Day

Happy Pie Day                                                       3.14                                                      March 14th


What is pie day all about? Well, according to Wikipedia it this:
Pi Day is an annual celebration commemorating the mathematical constant π (pi). Pi Day is observed on March 14 (or 3/14 in the month/day date format), since 3, 1, and 4 are the three most significant digits of π in the decimal form. 
In 2009, theUnited States House of Representatives supported the designation of Pi Day.[2]

Pi Approximation Day is observed on July 22 (or 22/7 in the day/month date format), since the fraction 22⁄7 is a common approximation of π.[3]

I though, am not a big math fan. I would rather eat the pie then try to figure out what number comes next. So here is what pie day means to me and mine....


                                       What's in your pie? Can't decide, Then try one of these!

For dinner PIZZA PIE

 DESSERT

Don't forget to watch Pinkie Pie :)

Want to make some yummy pies? Here are 52 recipes for delicious goodness baked in a flaky shell.

Now go make some pie!