3 easy pumpkin recipes for Halloween or year round. Vegan and vegetarian friendly.

While visiting a Pumpkin Patch is usually available throughout Autumn, it makes a particularly fun event during the month of October to help get you into the spirit. Patches vary from region to region, but many of them offer events like costume contests, hay rides, face painting, small haunted houses, corn mazes, and more Fall fun. It’s also a nice opportunity to support local farmers and see a variety of pumpkins that you might not see at your local grocery store. Best of all, visiting pumpkin patches is free! At PumpkinPatchesandMore.org you can find listings for pumpkin patches (and related events) for all of the USA, as well as the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. Local Harvest also offers a search that locates small farms, farmers markets, and other local food …

Solanum Integrifolium is the Latin name for what is sometimes known as the Pumpkin Tree*. The nickname couldn’t be more appropriate; just look at those beautiful little “pumpkins”! Cuttings from this plant make gorgeous decor items for Autumn or Halloween and can be used in centerpieces, as ornaments on a Halloween tree, or on their own.

I’ve been seeing these for sale a lot recently at places like Trader Joes, farmers markets, and a few grocery stores. When I did a little research about them I found out why: San Diego County (where we are located) is where most of them are grown, due to the mild desert climate. Cut branches, adorned with the bright orange faux pumpkins, are becoming popular in fall flower arrangements, so you might be able to find them at a florist if you are not in southern …

Etsy is the handmade little sister to eBay, and around fall the selection of DIY goodies takes on a decidedly darker tone. Think of the transformation that Martha Stewart undergoes during October; less kountry kitchen and more haunted house. There’s always a small availability of spooky items year-round, but right now Etsy is brimming with them. Artists like Nanny Norton stock their shops with handmade items like the art print entitled “Father and Son Pumpkin Under the Harvest Moon”. More unconventional mediums such as felt are utilized by Beesocks in creating decorative pieces like Mr and Mrs Frank N Stein Felt People. The site is really a mixed bag, and aside …

September 1st is a beautiful day. Some welcome the great respite of Back to School or look forward to Fall or Labor Day partying, but for a select group of Halloweenies it means something else. As our friends at Ghost Droppings so eloquently said: “With the days of August now dead, we usher in the month of September. September is the month where hidden things begin to stir in their dark places. It is the month where Autumn more fully rears its head before the sun. It is a time where our Halloween activities become more focused and obsessive. September is that time before the month of months with the day of days, Halloween.”

In the US, Halloween is the 2nd most popular holiday, but around here it’s THE holiday. We wait anxiously all year for the chance to put together fantastic …