Pumpkin carving and calculus – that was the combination at our house last Sunday. My daughter Moriah and her friend Sophie Schwinn, high-school senior honor students with college admission preparations constantly on the brain, opted to take a break from their hectic lives. And what better way to slow down than to let themselves be kids again for a bit. Here, we share with you our tips and tools for creating a happy Jack.

The girls ate pumpkin pie, candy corn and roasted pumpkin seeds while contemplating their artistic creations. Use a template, clip art, stencils, or to go freehand? Oh, decisions, decisions. Moriah opted for an intricate stencil of a witch. Sophie used a quick freehand drawing of a happy-faced traditional jack-o’-lantern. Because I had never tried a stencil, I wanted to choose one from a kit. I purchased a booklet of stencils as well as a set of carving tools.

Our family tries to carve pumpkins every year. I think we’ve missed only a year or two. “It’s been about four years, long enough that I don’t really remember what they (jack-o’-lanterns) looked like,” Sophie said.

“When we were little, they (our parents) didn’t let us actually cut out the pumpkin. We did the scooping out of the innards,” she added. “We always put flashlights in them. We put them on the porch, on the walkway.”

“My favorite part of Halloween, after the candy, was always the pumpkins. Picking the perfect pumpkin was never easy – not too skinny, not too squat, with the perfect stem.” Moriah said. “The first lesson on pumpkins that my father taught me was not to pick them up by the stem as it is likely to break.”

I use everything from the pumpkin carving: the seeds are roasted; the pumpkin meat is mircrowaved, then pureed in my food processor; the pulp goes out for the wildlife. Some folks prefer canned pumpkin to the fresh, but I happen to love the very light muffins I make from fresh pumpkin.

To roast pumpkin seeds, first wash, then dry them with paper towels. You can either dry them overnight and then bake them in a slow oven, or simmer them with a couple of tablespoons of salt for about 10 minutes, dry them, spread them out onto an oiled cookie sheet and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Happy carving!

Edith Churchill is a freelance writer living in Auburn who frequently takes day trips with her family.

Carving Tips

As we went about carving, I jotted down some tips and hints on everything from supplies to displaying the finished artwork.

The pumpkin: Your choice of shape and texture. Note that if you plan to use a printed design, the pumpkin needs to be large enough to accommodate the pattern, or be prepared to shrink the stencil.

Table cover: We cover the surface of our kitchen table with a thin disposable, plastic tablecloth, or with a large trash bag,cut open to cover more space. Tape with masking tape in a few spots to keep the plastic from sliding around.

Newspapers: Spread over the plastic to absorb pumpkin juice and to make cleanup easier.

Containers: You will need containers for the seeds (if you plan to save and roast them) and pumpkin meat (if you want to freeze or cook it for later use) and for the pulp (to discard). We gave the latter to birds and squirrels in our yard.

Knives or cutting tools: There is quite a bit of flexibility here. You can buy a pumpkin carving kit that contains a sawlike knife or two. The one I bought had a more heavy-duty one for basic and deeper cuts and a finer one for detail work. You can make do with a kitchen knife, maybe a paring knife. I used one for years before breaking down and getting a kit. I do like the serrated, sawlike tool, but my husband prefers the old-fashioned, regular knife.

Scoops: We’ve been using tablespoons from the kitchen for years. The rounded scoops in the popular kits make this job much easier on the hands. My latest kit had a rounded rectangle with a thumb-hold that I really liked.

Stencil: If you opt to decorate this way, you can buy a kit with stencils, or check online for free stencils, clip art or templates. We generally prefer to make up our own faces, but this time I wanted to try some stencil designs for a change. I recommend cutting stencils out with scissors, not just tearing along the perforations, so the pattern does not tear. Tape and trace with a pencil or marker. Start in the middle and work your way out to the sides, easing the paper because it shifts a bit when trying to cover the round surface. Next time, I would try to copy onto vellum to make the transfer easier.

Of course, you can always draw freehand onto the pumpkin, or use a piece of paper to draw the design and then transfer to your pumpkin. When our children were younger, we cut out faces to glue onto the pumpkin, or painted right onto the pumpkin.

Carving: Turn the pumpkin all around to find the side you want to be in front. If using a stencil, check the height before cutting off the top (to empty), or cutting into the bottom.

When marking off the top, make sure it’s wide enough to get a hand in to remove the guts. You can go deeper or further down in the back. Draw on the pumpkin in an irregular zigzag or circle, making sure to cut a small notch so you can easily fit the stem or lid back on.

Time: My 16-pound pumpkin took a half-hour to gut, and I spent an hour drawing and cutting the pattern. A less complex design would not take as long.

Resources

Pumpkinland at Chipman Farm, Poland, (207) 998-2027, through Oct. 29. For more information, check www.chipmanpumpkinland.com.

6th annual Parade of Jack-o’-lanterns, on Gracelawn Road, Auburn. Held from 5:30 to 9 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 29, the last of a three-day display. Donations welcome. Many groups get together for pumpkin-carving parties and donate their creations for the parade, according to organizer Helen Ouellette.

Check online. Query for “pumpkin carving” and you’ll come up with all kinds of suggestions for carving, stenciling and other pumpkin crafts and ideas. I was surprised to see electrical drilling tools suggested online. I got this image in my mind of Sun Journal writer Mark LaFlamme with a booted foot, holding down a giant pumpkin and attacking it with a chainsaw to create a Grim Reaper gourd.

I did collect some interesting ideas, such as using a pushpin to transfer stencil patterns. Check out these Web sites:

www.familycrafts.about.com/od/pumpkincarving/. This site offers many free downloadable stencils.

www.spookmaster.com. You’ll find extensive directions and lots of suggestions.

www.thepumpkinfarm.com/. This site has a virtual carving page.