Pumpkins! 3 ways to reuse your pumpkins...

Pumpkins! Three ways to reuse your pumpkins for three holidays,

and then let pumpkins make pumpkins.

OK I’ve got to say, I do love me some pretty pumpkins! We have been growing our own pumpkins for a couple of years now, and I want to share with you how I use them not only for Halloween, but for Thanksgiving and Christmas as well. Of course, I let my kids carve the pumpkins we will put out for Halloween And I save those seeds to roast for a yummy treat. I will share a free printable recipe for super easy roasted pumpkin seeds below.

I do like putting out an assortment of pumpkins from big to small from orange to greens to light pinks.

Now, when Halloween is over, I get rid of the skulls and the creepy things surrounding the pumpkins, and I put them out for my fall Decour. Your pumpkins will last as long as you do not get a crack or a neck in them. It’s actually quite amazing to me how long and particular the Cinderella pumpkins last. in my opinion, they are more bang for your buck as not only are they so much prettier, but they do have a very sexy skin that will last as well as they do go better yes, decor for Thanksgiving.

So what would be the third holiday, obviously Christmas. How to use a pumpkin for Christmas? I actually spray paint my pumpkins, white, and then paint on the face of a snowman. Stacking three pumpkins, and adding a hat on top, followed by a scarf for the finishing touches, add a cute little welcome in our California driveway. Here in Southern California we obviously don’t get the snow, but I do like having a snowman to greet us.

OK, so here we are the holidays being over now what to do with those pumpkins? Open them up and save the seeds for next year. When you do this, make sure you clean the seeds from all the gunk, and then allow them to dry out on a paper towel completely before storing in a gallon sized Ziploc for next year. Then with the rest of the seeds, cook them!

Here is a free printable for how to cook your pumpkin seeds:

Roasting Pumpkin Seeds.pdf

Download PDF • 130KB

So, when do even start growing pumpkins? Late spring here in Southern California. If you want a really big, big Mac pumpkin, you’ve got to start early.

If you don't already have your seeds, you can order them with these links:

A few years ago, we decided to start growing around, and after the first failed attempt, we learned how to actually grow pumpkins the easy way. The pumpkins grow better when you start the seeds in small containers And then once they have sprouted, then you can transfer them to your garden. The seeds that we use for the seeds from the pumpkins from the previous year. If you do not carve the pumpkin, or Nick, the pumpkin, they really will last a really long time. Below, you can see our at home pumpkin patch where it’s been a lot of fun to see how easy it is and rewarding to grow our own pumpkins. We grew the carving kind, the big Macs, but my favorite certainly overall are the Cinderella pumpkins. My philosophy and gardening is to grow more expensive items rather than cheap things. The carving pumpkins are obviously not as expensive as the big Max or the Cinderella‘s so if you’re going to grow something grow those.

With all these pumpkins, as much as I love having tons of decor around the house, we also had a pumpkin sale! My daughter sold them to the neighbors for $5 each and also sold $125 worth out on the corner. Not bad for a fun backyard crop!

So there you have it, the pumpkin, round up. Who knew these things could get a few months worth of worth of use as well as be tasty and healthy treat and also be the starter seed for next year‘s crop. It’s just pumpkins making pumpkins. It’s not hard, so give it a try. What’s what’s the worst that could happen? They don’t grow. That’s OK. You’ll get it at some point. I might’ve been there, I might’ve done that.

Xo,

Mama