The Churchtown Farm creative pumpkin patch
There's an odd triangular patch of land behind the tractor shed that has had many and various uses. One thing it gets used for is a trial patch when we want to try something new on a small scale. This summer we trialled various varieties of sunflowers. The sunflowers didn't take up all the available space so just for fun Ben also grew a pumpkin patch in eager anticipation that we could supply the children of St Martin's (big and small) with carving pumpkins at Halloween.
Halloween has never been a big thing on St Martin's. Normally it falls on the middle week of a two week half term and with many families working hospitality over the summer most children would normally be away on holiday. This year the dates fell differently and the older island children took the opportunity to go trick or treating.
With plentiful supply of pumpkins and the novelty of having trick or treaters to cater for, there was quite a bit of enthusiasm to decorate, supply treats and make a spooky atmosphere.
All week at the farm there was a lot of chatter about pumpkin carving ideas and techniques, resulting in some really creative ideas. My favourite was the owl you can see at the top of the page. But the best creation of the evening certainly went to Liv. Her chocolate cake depicting Ben with his pumpkin patch, complete with earthworms, was brilliant and tasted as good as it looked.