Autumn is one of my most favorite times of the year.  I most likely say that at the beginning of every new season, I am glad to live in an area of the world where I get to have four seasons, I like the variety and anticipation that each season brings. That being said, Autumn is one of my favorites, I don’t tire of it quickly and I love the cool nights, the harvest, the fall colors, snuggling in front of the first fire of the season.  Its such a lovely time of year. I must confess another reason I love autumn is my love affair with pumpkins. Seriously they are the mostly beautiful and interesting of all vegetables.  I love the typical jack-o-lantern style and I love the old heirloom varieties, the kind that people have been growing in France for five hundred years.  I love them all.  I have to restrain myself every spring as I plan and plant my garden so I don’t plant too    many.  I so enjoy pumpkins.

This year I didn’t feel  as bad about  all the pumpkins I planted, we were able to share them with people at market, and let them enjoy the variety and take them home to love too. How can you not love a pumpkin that is green and pinky/orange mottled? Or one whose ridges are so deep and defined it looks like it came right out of mid evil Europe?

Having a nice harvest of good pumpkins speaks to an old part of my soul, the lingering part from my ancestors that would have looked upon those pumpkins and known they would be eating well over the cold winter. That the bright oranges and greens would have been refreshing for the eyes during the dark winter months. As these beautiful pumpkins adore my table, my front porch and eventually feed my family and farm animals I can’t help but feel as if I’m tapping into days long past.