National Pumpkin Day Review

 

An unofficial holiday celebrated annually on October 26th.

The pumpkin is one of the main symbols of Halloween (in the U.S.) and is a central component of many fall festivals, Oktoberfests and similar celebrations.  It is also delicious when served as food in a variety of ways.  So it really shouldn't be a surprise that this orange squash has its own holiday.

Pumpkin Facts and Trivia

• The name of this squash comes from the Greek word Pepõn – a word that means “Large Melon.”   
• Pumpkins are thought to have originated in North America, as seeds were found in Mexico dating back about 9,000 years.
• Pumpkins and other forms of squash were an important food staple to the Native Americans.

Jack-o-Lanterns

Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

Jack-o'-lanterns carved from pumpkins are a yearly Halloween tradition brought to the United States by Irish Immigrants. Read all about the origin of the Jack-O-Lantern here.

Pumpkin Dishes

There are many ways to cook and enjoy this squash called a Pumpkin:

• Cook as a squash vegetable dish.

Pumpkin Chiffon Pie - Photo & Recipe by Sylvestermouse
as seen on her Cooking for the Holidays site.

• Pumpkin Pie – a traditional Thanksgiving dinner dessert. Check out this Pumpkin Chiffon Pie Recipe by Sylvestermouse. 

Pumpkin Bread - Recipe by Sylvestermouse

• Pumpkin Bread - See a delicious recipe for Pumpkin Bread by Sylvestermouse.

• Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

• 

  Photo Compliments of Sam Monaco
  from his Sam's Place Oven Roasted Pumpkin Seeds Recipe.

  
  Pumpkin Seeds make a great snack. Check out this easy recipe for Oven Roasted Pumpkin Seeds from Sam's Place by Sam Monaco.

Handmade Pumpkins

Pumpkin Beverage Coasters on Etsy

Crafters also like to get creative with pumpkins. This set of Pumpkin beverage coasters can be found in the Etsy Shop of Coastal Crochet Crafts. They are perfect for home décor in the season of Harvest-time, Autumn and Halloween.

Striped Crochet Pumpkin - Etsy

Angela of Colorado hand-crochets this beautiful pumpkin in an earthy peach and creamy white stripes.  It is stuffed with poly-fil, and features a birchwood stem and two faux fall leaves are secured to the pumpkin center with a dab of hot glue.

This pumpkin measures between 3” tall (4” with stem) and 15"-16” around which is approximately 4” wide.  It is featured in her Etsy Shop 209 Divine, along with a variety of other holiday items.

The Pumpkin Patch

So get ready for National Pumpkin Day by visiting a pumpkin patch near you for a selection of pumpkins to cook, decorate your home for the Fall Season or carve into Jack-O-Lanterns for Halloween. 

Tyler in the Pumpkin Patch

My favorite photo of a pumpkin patch was taken by my son of my grandson Tyler as a  toddler on his first-ever visit to a Pumpkin Patch.

*National Pumpkin Day Review written by Wednesday Elf

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

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Book Review: The First-Time Gardener Growing Vegetables

Perhaps you want to grow your own food but are afraid and have no clue where to begin. Or maybe you can relate to me, having had some experience and success growing literally a couple of vegetables over the decades but far more familiar with wasted time, money, and failed gardening attempts. If you would like to grow your own vegetable garden with confidence, The First Time Gardener Growing Vegetables: All the Know-How and Encouragement You need to Grow and Fall in Love with Your Brand New Food Garden by Jessica Sowards is an excellent investment.

The First Time Gardener - Growing Vegetables

With the purchase of my land, construction of my home, and dreams of having a successful vegetable garden, I am familiar with Jessica Sowards of Roots and Refuge Farm fame through her youtube channel. I spend nearly all of my indoor free time watching videos about gardening and homesteading and her channel has been one that I have learned a good deal from. Her love of gardening is contagious and she is a wealth of vegetable knowledge. When she announced that she had written a book I knew I had to buy it.  

The First Time Gardener Growing Vegetables: All the Know-How and Encouragement You need to Grow and Fall in Love with Your Brand New Food Garden 

This 176 page book is written by Jessica Sowards with photographs by Makenzie Evans Photography. It is part gardening guide, part inspirational prose, and part coffee table visual feast. This book is not an in-depth, encyclopedia of plant names, varieties, and specific growing details of each plant. It is summarized bits of encouraging information.

The Chapters include:

1. Welcome to the Classroom
2. The Foundation - What Every Gardener Needs to Succeed
3. Creating Your Garden
4. Growing with the Seasons
5. The Needs for Seed... or Not
6. Grow Something Lovely - Designing a Captivating Space
7. The Nitty-Gritty of Garden Management
8. Making the Harvest
9. Conclusion - Grow on, Gardener

The chapters are short. Brief blurbs hitting the most important parts of gardening. Including some boxes of summarized information, lists, and charts. The information is chunked into small portions that are not overwhelming for the brand new gardener and would be good prompts and reminders for gardeners with some experience. 

aka "fertilizers" - I've only recently learned about coconut coir

a list of some of the best food plants for container gardening

More About Why I Chose This Book

I currently live in a metro area apartment. I have successfully grown some tomatoes (and a small handful of tiny potatoes) on my south-facing balcony. But I haven't tried to grow a garden in the ground for some years (oh my gosh, decades! My how time flies!). With my planned move to four acres, I am dreaming of having a garden with a variety of vegetables that I will be able to eat fresh or can for later. While I am excited about my plans, I am also afraid.

I am afraid of more plant failure. Over my lifetime, I have made many attempts to grow plants: houseplants, vegetables, berries, fruit trees... and I have failed massively. I have wasted so much time, energy, and money only to end up with seedlings that die, plants purchased from a store that I kill, and a variety of plants that never grow anything edible.

I am also overwhelmed by feeling as though there is so much information to remember; when to plant, what to use for fertilizer, when to harvest, and so on. While everything is available on the internet, I want to make sure to have some good reference books in my home. I do not have reliable connectivity on top of the mountain ridge. There will be many times that I will not be able to look up things on the internet. Also, with this book it will be quicker to flip open to a list or a quick reminder.

Last year I impulsively bought a couple of zucchini and cabbage starts from a roadside stand and planted them in my flower garden. Even though I only sporadically visited my land and did not provide care for those plants, several zucchini grew and I was able to make my own zucchini bread. With a little guidance and support from Jessica's book I should be able to have even more success this coming year.

Related Links:

Make sure you check out the Review This! Gardening tab to see the other posts by our contributors. Our group includes some very talented gardeners. Click this link or the gardening tab at the top of this page and scroll down to see previous gardening posts.

To read more about my land and future homestead please visit my personal blog or take a peek at the video of my house under construction. But be advised, I am not a "youtuber". But with a peek at the videos or blog post it will be easy to see why I will do much of my gardening in containers or raised beds. And that I will need all of the guidance I can get.

I mentioned Jessica's youtube channel. If you love to watch gardening videos and/or someone who finds quiet joy in gardening, be sure to check out Roots and Refuge.

To see what others are saying about The First Time Gardener Growing Vegetables: All the Know-How and Encouragement You need to Grow and Fall in Love with Your Brand New Food Garden be sure to check out the reviews on Amazon. 

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

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Hope for a New Year, Sunflowers Plant of the Year for 2021 A Garden Review

Everyone I know has had enough of 2020, so even though Christmas is still a day or two away, it's time to look forward! 

There seems to be many authorities on Plant of the Year for 2021 and I know we all need something to look forward to, so I'm going with the authorities at the Winnipeg Free Press!  They (and I agree with them) have dubbed 2021 the Year of the Sunflower!

There is so much about sunflowers that I just love and I'm going to fill you in on just a few of them.

1. They are easy to grow from seeds.
2. They will grow without any help from you.  No fertilizers, no need to baby them!
3. By summertime, you will have a beautiful stalk of bright yellow flowers (or some other cultivar).
4. They are beautiful cut flowers that last a long time.
5. The bees will love you!  as well as butterflies, ladybugs, dragonflies, and other insects that all feed on the nectars they produce.
6. The flowers are interesting not only for their colors (and there are many) but also for the seeds they are producing.
7. If you are into "mathematics", they love working the Fibonacci Sequencing with the seed heads as they are revealed in growth patterns in nature.
8. The seed heads are food for birds, squirrels, chipmunks, field mice and more.
9. You can bake the seeds for human consumption too!  But you can also eat them raw.
10. You can have a variety of sunflowers growing together.  They will delight you in so many ways.

So when you think of sunflowers are you just thinking of the big yellow multi petalled flower?  There are so many more varieties of sunflowers than the traditional yellow.  

Sunflower "Elf" is probably the shortest growing at stems of 16 inches or so in height.  Then there is one called Sunforest Mix which can grow up to 10 feet tall.  The seed heads can measure almost 12 inches across!  As it's name implies, if you plant a bunch of these you will have a "Sunflower Forest" growing.  What could be more beautiful?  The bees, birds and small wildlife will thank you!

Did you know that Sunflowers are also yellow with orange centers, or white?  Some varieties have just a few layers of petals around the seed head, while others are so full of petals that they look fuzzy!  

One thing that they all have in common is that they will surely bring a smile to your face!

Ripening Seed heads! Just one sunflower can produce hundreds of seeds.  That will feed a lot of birds!

            This bird can hardly wait for the seeds to ripen on this seed head and he's helping himself to a delicious snack!

Seed heads are easy to harvest.  Just grab a sharp knife (be careful) and cut the seed head off.  You don't need to remove the seeds from the rest of the flower head, unless you want to.  Turn the heads upside down and suspend them with some string and the birds will come for them.  If you have lots of seed heads, you might want to ration them out a head at a time, so that as winter sets in you still have some heads for the birds.  Sunflower seeds are a great source of food for the birds in the winter months.  They are loaded with oils that birds need for energy during the coldest months of the year.  

If you want to get an idea about how many colors and sizes of Sunflowers there are, here is a link to HGTV's 13 Crazy and Colorful Sunflowers!  

I think I would love to have a few acres that I could plant with sunflowers of all types, can you just imagine the riot of color that would be seen? 

As we lead up to Christmas, I won't fill your minds with too much more than beautiful pictures of the Sunflowers that hopefully will grace your gardens in 2021.  In the language of flowers, sunflowers mean Adoration, Loyalty, and Longevity!  We( all the writers) at Review This Reviews, adore our fans and readers.  We will loyally bring you a variety of reviews that you will enjoy and we want to be with you and have you visit us often.   A very fitting flower for us, for this time of year and the year to come.  

Decorate your life with a little sunshine that lasts and lasts.  Sunflowers are just one of the cheeriest flowers and so charming in their own way!

I can't think of a flower that would make me smile bigger and longer than the sight of a bright yellow or red sunflower!

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

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Reviewing The Joys And Uses Of Autumn/Fall Leaves

Autumn/Fall Leaves

I appreciate all the seasons and I love the time of year when the leaves start to change colour. Although the vibrant colours of the beautiful spring and summer flowers are now a fond memory, Autumn leaves are equally gorgeous. 

I love to see all the different colours and when you look more closely all the diverse shapes and textures of the leaves. Underfoot if it's dry they feel scrunchy and if it's wet they are all slippery.

When the wind blows you can hear the rustle of the dry leaves and some get caught up and fly higher into the sky like wild confetti! 

In the Fall/Autumn season we are treated to the stunning show of reds, golds, bronze and russets to lift our spirits as the days grow colder and shorter. I do have happy memories of Autumn that stay with me always.

There are many beautiful and lasting memories that can be made at this time of year between children and their parents or grandparents and I wanted to highlight some of the uses and joys to appreciate this season's beautiful falling leaves.

There is nothing quite like standing under a large tree when its leaves are changing color to golds and reds gazing up at the sky as the sun is streaming through, it is truly a magical experience.

Autumn/Fall With Children

 

This time of year always raises memories of my childhood. My parents always encouraged a love of the outdoors and Autumn always evokes memories as a child walking through deep rifts of crunchy leaves holding hands with my Mum and Dad kicking up the leaves, having fun!

We collected leaves of all shapes, colours and sizes to press, make into a picture and learn about. To succeed in this process on a basic level all you need is tissue paper and a very heavy book. Simply lay the leaf between 2 layers of tissue paper then place in the middle of a heavy book, close and leave. Before very long you will have beautifully preserved leaves. If you wish to learn more about leaf and flower pressing this book is a great starting point to learn how to create really lovely personalised art from simple leaves and flowers.

 

The Art of Pressed Flowers and Leaves

15%

The Art of Pressed Flowers and Leaves: Contemporary Techniques & Designs

 

For younger children dried leaves can be laid down on white paper, the outline drawn and then coloured or painted in whatever authentic or imagined colours they like!

Autumn leaves are so beautiful to paint and also to take photographs of. They have amazing colours and shapes and are always interesting for the artist. Such gorgeous rich colours and moods to capture. 

When older children are involved in looking at and experiencing nature in this way it is then very educational to teach children about the different leaves and which trees they come from. 

This gorgeous book is a wonderful resource, beautiful, visual and well organised to teach children about leaves, trees, seeds, flowers and so much more to encourage an interest in and appreciation of nature.

Trees, Leaves, Flowers and Seeds: A Visual Encyclopedia of the Plant Kingdom

55%

Trees, Leaves, Flowers and Seeds: A Visual Encyclopedia of the Plant Kingdom (DK Our World in Pictures)

Fall Leaves Placemats & Tablerunners Reviewed

Like many of our Contributors, I love the fall and the beautiful colors of nature.  The yellow, gold, orange, and red leaves falling all around are simply stunning.

With the fall, we welcome cooler weather which tends to keep us indoors more and looking out the windows at the beautiful landscape.  That makes me want to bring some of the beautiful leaves inside, which I have certainly done in the past.

Several years ago, I was doing a bit of early Christmas shopping when I spotted the gorgeous fall leaves cutwork placemats.  There were only two left, but that was fine for my kitchen table, which only seats two.  

We removed our large kitchen table decades ago and replaced it with a couch & chair.  Not only does that provide comfortable seating in the kitchen, but it forces us to use the dining room, which was previously only used for holidays.

The fall leaves cutwork placemats are perfect for my husband and myself at our smaller kitchen table.  Plus, they provide really beautiful fall decor in the center of our kitchen.

Fall Leaves Placemats

Forest Blanket with Poly-Suede Cutwork - 16 inch placmats (Set of 4)Check PriceMy fall leaves placemats are made of a faux suede material.  The cutwork design gives them a nostalgic look that appeals to us.  Our table is wood, a gift from my grandmother's home.  The wood table provides the perfect background for the fall leaves placemats.

When our daughter visited last fall, she commented on how pretty these placemats are on the table.  Normally, we all have very different decor preferences.  Apparently, these fall leaves placemats appeal to a variety of decor tastes. 

The current fall leaves placemats that are available are slightly different from mine in colors.  That is common with fabric due to different runs or fabric selection.  It could also be due to a different manufacturer.  Photography lighting can also affect an image.  Regardless, they are still stunning!

If you stop by my article about my grandmother, you will see the table in it's original place in her home.  That photo was taken on Christmas over 30 years ago.

Fall Leaves Tablerunner

Owenie Fall Leaves Table Runners,Thanksgiving Centerpieces for Tables, 13Inch x 34Inch Embroidered Maple Leaf table decor for Harvest, Autumn Farmhouse Decorations for Home Settings, Machine Washable.Check PriceOur kitchen opens up to our dining room where we have the large dining room table that seats 8-12 easily.  Recently, I came across a fall leaves tablerunner that compliments my placemats.  That ties the decor in the two rooms together nicely.  

The tablerunner is not an exact match, but that is not really noticeable unless you place them side by side.  That doesn't matter to us since they are used on different tables.  Plus, there is something naturally eclectic about them not matching, just as hundreds of leaves don't match when blanketing the yard.

If you were going to use the table runners and the placemats on the same table, I would recommend buying the exact same pattern all at the same time.  

More Articles on Fall Decor

Fall is in the Air - 2020 Fall Favorites by Mbgphoto

Decorating Your Bedroom for Fall by Barbara Cipak

Harvest Time Home Decor Review by Wednesday Elf

How to Create a Beautiful Fall Harvest Display

Check Out More Home Decor Reviews at
ReviewThisDecor.com

 Fall Leaves Placemats & Tablerunners Reviewed by:

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A Review of Handmade Halloween Home Decor

Halloween is a favorite time to decorate your house and yard, most especially if you are like my daughter-in-law who goes 'all out'. Their outside yard décor is so elaborate and fantastic that they have even won local 'Halloween Decoration' contests in the past.

But it is 'inside the home' that can lend itself to creating a Halloween atmosphere limited only by your imagination. You can go scary with ghosts and goblins, skeletons and spiders, or sweetly seasonal with pumpkins, or cute with black cats and bats.

The following are a few ideas to get you started. They are the creative results of fellow handmade artists on Etsy.

Pumpkins

A Pumpkin Table Runner

Halloween Pumpkins Table Runner

Decorate your table with a seasonal table runner for the Halloween season. 

This table runner is made with 2 different prewashed cotton fabrics so that it is reversible. One side has decorated orange, white and black pumpkins that are outlined in gold on a black background. It also has gold stars and the words "Boo" and "Trick or treat". The reverse side is orange with Halloween words and phrases, spiders and crows in black, gray and white. The words and phrases are "Trick or treat", "Spooky", "Happy Halloween" and "Boo".  

This table runner is 14" wide and 39 1/2" long and can be found in Kathie's Etsy Shop she calls CutePurseNalities.

Pumpkin Coasters

Pumpkin Beverage Coasters

Pumpkin design beverage coasters are perfect for home décor in the season of Harvest-time, Autumn, or Fall. They can also be fun all year round for anyone who likes pumpkin designs.

This is a set of 4 drink coasters with a pumpkin design measure 4 x 4 inches each. They are created using plastic canvas and acrylic yarn in two shades of orange, plus brown and green. The pumpkin design sits on an ecru/off-white background. Perfect colors for your Harvest time decor. 

They are available in the Etsy Store of Coastal Crochet Crafts.

Black Cats & Bats

Black Cat

Wooden 
Black Cat

This rustic wooden black cat figurine is handmade from whitewood or reclaimed pallet wood

Approximate measurement: about 6 inches tall x 4.3 inches wide.  

Handmade by Christina and found in her Etsy Shop Tinkerbinks.

Scary Bats

Halloween Bats Decor

Scary 3D bats all over the wall / window. Arrange them as you wish. You definitely want them in your Halloween Party. Comes with easy to apply style.

-Easy to apply to walls, doors, glass and other hard surfaces. For use on smooth walls -- can also go on glass

-Material: waterproof pvc. Color: black. Leave no residue or damage when peel off from wall / window. 

Find these bats at AJProducts on Etsy.

Halloween Kitchen Décor

Handy for Halloween are these decorative and useful dishcloths, potholders and refrigerator magnets for your kitchen.

Pumpkin Set

Pumpkin Kitchen Set

Pumpkin Kitchen Combo. Pumpkin shaped cotton dishcloth/washcloth with matching pumpkin potholder and pumpkin magnet

Washing dishes is a chore made easier with dishcloths made of 100% cotton yarn. This dishcloth in the shape of a pumpkin makes kitchen chores more fun.

This pumpkin-shaped handmade-in-crochet dishcloth can also be used as a washcloth in the bathroom - especially fun for kids in the bathtub. 

The matching pumpkin potholder is crocheted in washable orange acrylic yarn with a green top. It measures 9.5 x 11 inches and is made double-thick.

This pumpkin set makes a cute Halloween home décor item or can be used as a gift. (Makes a unique hostess gift when invited out to dinner, especially during the Harvest-Time season).

The kitchen set comes with a matching pumpkin refrigerator magnet.  Available at Wednesday Elf's eBay site. 

Ghost Set

Ghost Washcloth & Magnet

This cute ghost kitchen set includes a fun novelty washcloth in the shape of a ghost. A cute way to entertain children at bathtime or to make choretime in the kitchen washing dishes more fun. Or just display it in your kitchen for a Halloween decoration. It comes with a cute ghost magnet for your refrigerator. Find it at my eBay site.

Related Links:

• For more Halloween home décor ideas, check out Fun Halloween Home Decor by Sylvestermouse.
• For Halloween recipes, costumes and more decorating ideas, check out this group of Halloween articles reviewed for you here on ReviewThisReviews. 

Happy Halloween

Halloween Yard Décor (c) Elf

*Handmade Halloween Home Décor written on 10/24/2020 by (c) Wednesday Elf

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

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