Happy Halloween!!

In honor of this spooky autumn day I an going to share some fun facts that I found today about pumpkins.  
1. The only continent where pumpkins can't grow is Antarctica. No surprise there.
2.  Pumpkin flowers are edible. I think I'll add some to my next pumpkin pie.  
3. Pumpkins were once recommended for removing freckles and curing snake bites. No instructions on how to use the pumpkin were included with this statement. Do you rub pumpkin goo on a snake bite or throw a pumpkin at the snake?  While that last option might not cure the snake bite, it would feel empowering to smash that snake.
4. Eighty percent of the pumpkin supply in the U.S. is available in October?  Could that possibly have something to do with the natural growing cycle of pumpkins?
5.  The largest pumpkin ever grown weighed 1,140 pounds.  No info about how many pies were made from that pumpkin.  
And speaking of pies, my brother is pastor of a church that has a unique fund raiser each year.  They make and sell home-made, or actually church kitchen made, pie crusts. They are really good.  I've ordered 4 and at least 2 of them will be used for pumpkin pie.
And here's something I learned last year while mixing up pumpkin pie filling.  I had enough pie filling left over after baking 2 pies for another one so I froze the remaining filling in a zip loc bag.  Two months later I needed a pie so I thawed and baked the filling I had frozen in one of the church pie crusts (talk about lazy baking) and it tasted wonderful. Happy pumpkins, happy fall everyone.