WHY IS THE STEM SO IMPORTANT ON TOP OF A PUMPKIN?

But it is. No pumpkin that I ever bought had a bad stem. One of the kids or grandkids may have altered it once it got home, but it started out with a great stem.

I almost planted some pumpkins once. But a knowledgeable brother-in-law advised me against it. I didn't know. My zucchini squash was pretty good. What could a few pumpkins hurt? But evidently they grow like crazy and would have consumed my garden, wrapped themselves around my pines, and even taken over the concrete flooring of the dog pen. He convinced me, so no pumpkins.

But my pumpkins would have been harvested with stems. Twisty, sturdy stems that accentuated the round firmness of the orange orb.

But why? I never cared what the stems of my tomatoes looked like. Of course, they never lasted long around me. Strawberry stems were not important, though a friend once showed me how to eat around the stem. The leftover part she made looked like a star. So maybe to Deb, those stems were vital.

If a twisty pumpkin stem wasn't available, I went for length. If none were very noticeable then I grabbed the short stubby ones that were fat and sliced off at an angle. If no angle cut, then straight across. And if there were any in the patch that didn't meet my criteria, then no pumpkin from there.

I really like Halloween so there may be more blog entries coming. Not so much Halloween maybe as the harvest. We'll see if we can't come to some conclusions before the big day. I may even figure out why the stem is so obligatory.