This week's Food Friday - Hearty Pumpkin Stew:
http://ping.fm/EfabF

It's not too late to buy a pumpkin for Halloween - check out these different varieties:
http://ping.fm/ARQoY

What's growing around the Bluegrass? Amur Honeysuckle is aggressively invasive:
http://ping.fm/1Y4Ph

Evolving Halloween Traditions

(Photo copyright Halloween Addict)

The Halloween season is upon us and there are many superstitions and symbols connected with this holiday, many coming from the home garden. The Irish have a legend about Jack-o-lanterns telling of a man named Jack who couldn’t enter heaven because he was in so much misery. He was also afraid to enter hell because of all the jokes he had played on the devil. So, Jack was sentenced to wander the earth with a lantern until Judgment Day. Jack’s lantern was a hollowed-out turnip stuffed with coal.

The ancient Druids of Britain believed that on Halloween night, ghosts, spirits, faeries, witches and elves came out to harm every day people. They thought cats were sacred and had once been humans, turned into cats as punishment for evil deeds. This Druid belief is the basis for modern-day witches, ghosts and cats at Halloween. People began dressing as these creatures, using dyes made from vegetables and fruit to turn their faces into grotesque monsters.

The Druids also had an autumn festival called Samhain, or summer’s end. This holiday is still practiced by the Wiccan religion and pagans today. It is a time of feasting on all kinds of food that has been grown in the garden throughout the season. The custom of using leaves, pumpkins and cornstalks as Halloween decorations also comes from the Druids.

In the United States, Halloween was not a significant holiday until the 1800s arrival of Irish and Scottish immigrants. Halloween celebrations began to take on a modern form as Americans replaced the Irish turnips with pumpkins for making Jack-o-lanterns. The practice of “souling” – visiting homes and offering prayers for the dead in return for gifts of food – was replaced with trick-or-treating and Halloween parties.

Many Halloween traditions started in the garden: http://ping.fm/R9Xql

While fall pears are in season, try out this yummy Country Pear Cobbler: http://ping.fm/HBDu3

Kentucky pears are ripening all over the Bluegrass: http://ping.fm/ssgQS

Fall care of ornamental grasses: http://ping.fm/eDDG2

Pumpkin bread also makes a great holiday gift: http://ping.fm/DPmcs

Learn how to save pumpkin seeds to plant for next year: http://ping.fm/ydrVS

What's blooming around the Bluegrass - Oriental Bittersweet: http://ping.fm/tzADN

Upcoming events at the Lexington Arboretum: http://ping.fm/2H7A6

Preparing perennials and biennials for winter: http://ping.fm/IE4Qs

Food Friday - Cushaw Pie: http://ping.fm/YK529

Check out what's happening at the Salato Wildlife Refuge in Frankfort, Kentucky: http://ping.fm/l9BJF

There is still plenty to do in the garden - now is the best time to prepare for fall: http://ping.fm/j4jv2

Check out my newest article on Chrysanthemums - http://ping.fm/2vvwW

Check out this great article on storing fall vegetables and fruit - http://ping.fm/cyr4Q