We love this time of year. The landscape is extraordinarily beautiful as it readies itself for a long slumber. Maples that spent the summer cloaked in muted shades of green explode into the vivid hues of autumn. Even the colors of the evergreens seem to intensify. Some gardeners find themselves saddened as the month of October wanes and all of this brilliance fades. You can try to combat that feeling by looking forward to an activity guaranteed to bring out the child in all of us-carving pumpkins!

It is believed that the practice of carving jack-o-lanterns began in Ireland. The original lantern was probably a turnip or a rutabaga as pumpkins don’t grow well in Ireland’s short summers. When the immigrants came to the United States they used the more readily, and much easier to carve, pumpkins.

One of our favorite ways to carve jack-o-lanterns turns the fruit on its side. We look at smaller pumpkins from the top down and carve faces using the stem as the nose. The ribs and shape of the pumpkin itself will clue you in to its personality.

Try using some less traditional tools. Drills are great for creating abstract patterns. Wood carving tools are great, too. Our most useful is a set of linoleum cutters that you can get at any craft or art supply store. Using these removes the skin and as much of the flesh as you would like. You can get some incredible detail and shading on your faces this way. And clay shaping loops make thinning the flesh from the inside a breeze.

Don’t stop with the bright orange pumpkins when you’re planning your carving. There are so many varieties available now. Our favorites this year are One Too Many with its mottled pale peach skin and Lumina’s skin of creamy white.

Don’t forget to look at squashes. Red Kiri has bright red-orange skin and a teardrop shape that lends itself to a fun face. And the warty Hubbard squashes make beautifully abstract lanterns if you carve a pattern of diamonds or circles into it.

As you contemplate the piles of winter squashes and pumpkins at the garden center, keep in mind all the wondrous uses this family of plants gives us. Stock up, experiment with some new varieties and try to find the face hiding in that pumpkin. We know it’s in there.