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It’s a scary time of year and kids are gearing up for costumes, trick or treating and scary movies. Here is a fun fall activities.

Carving Jack-o-Lanterns is a fun Halloween activity, but where do those pumpkins come from?

Who knew pumpkins are a fruit! Pumpkins need acres of room, rich soil and lots of sun so their vines can stretch out across the field. They don’t like the cold and should be planted late in spring. When we carve the pumpkin and remove all those seeds, they can be saved for planting next year, or eaten! Don’t worry you can’t grow a pumpkin in your belly, but here is a tasty way to enjoy the seeds.

Ranch Pumpkin Seeds

2 Tablespoons melted butter

Pinch of Salt

1 Tablespoon Ranch Dressing Mix

2 cups raw pumpkin seeds

Heat oven to 275° F. Toss butter, salt, dressing mix and pumpkin seeds in a shallow baking dish. Bake for 1 hour stirring every 15 minutes.

-For more fun facts about growing plants read The Tree That Bear Climbed, Sylvan Dell’s November free eBook of the Month.  http://www.sylvandellpublishing.com/bookpage.php?id=TreeBear.

It’s after midnight, which means it’s officially October 31st. Happy Halloween! May your day be filled with pumpkins, treats, and people wearing interesting costumes. One of my favorite Halloween treats is roasted pumpkin seeds. YUM! If you’ve never made them before, here’s a recipe so you can try it this year. Pumpkin seeds are great to snack on while watching Halloweenie movies and TV shows, like It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, Corpse Bride, Hocus Pocus, Sean of the Dead, Night of the Living Dead, or Nightmare Before Christmas.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Step One: Obtain pumpkin(s). Decorate or wait to carve them (I painted one of mine this year).

pumpkins!

Step Two: Put down newspaper. Get out carving tools and a large bowl to put the seeds in.

preparing for the pumpkin massacre

Step Three: Cut off top (or bottom) of pumpkin and separate the seeds from the gook.

we have seeds!

Step Four: Grease a cookie sheet with a coat of non-stick cooking spray and sprinkle with salt. Pour un-rinsed seeds* on to cookie sheet, sprinkle with salt, and bake at 250 degrees, stirring the seeds occasionally. Bake until golden brown and no longer wet. I usually taste them to make sure they are done. You should be able to smell them baking.  *You can rinse the seeds if you want, but they have more pumpkin flavor if you don’t rinse them.

roasted pumpkin seeds - yum!

Step Five: Eat and enjoy.

Happy Halloween everyone!!