Finding Love in the Pumpkin Patch!

It's autumn, and the Christmas books are already out! But where are all the books set in autumn? I've got one that has a pumpkin patch in it. It's where my hero and heroine meet. She gets tangled up in pumpkin vines and winds up twisting her ankle. I've got another book set at harvest time on a farm, and a book that ends along the Oregon trail and Thanksgiving.  All of which brings to mind harvest time!

For centuries, harvest time has been one of the most important periods of the year. In fact in Britain, local communities appointed a “Lord of the Harvest” who would oversee things such as the gathering of the crops, payment for the farm laborers and of course, a celebratory feast at the end of a good harvest. He got to sit at the head of the table of course! People celebrated the fact they weren't going to starve over the winter, but some harvests unfortunately, weren't as bountiful as others. Still, people celebrated.

Pioneer settlers, frontiersmen and farmers who also celebrated at harvest time. All hallow’s eve got into the mix along the way and “Spook Hollows” were a fun part of some small town’s (not to mention a few big ones) harvest time festivals. You might have read a western romance that included a harvest festival and spook hollow. Pumpkins and corn mazes, hayrides and yummy food, are all part of many a town’s annual traditions of the harvest festival!

Now a days we have Halloween celebrations instead of Harvest celebrations. But there are still festivals and feasts (some of candy) and lots of fun things to do at this time of year. I wrote another blog entirely on corn mazes here in America. Many folks love a good corn maze in the fall!

So when you're wandering through a pumpkin patch, or enjoying a pumpkin spice latte, or even buying a pumpkin pie, celebrate the harvest that brought those wonderful things to market and into kitchens across the world.

Until Next Time,

Kit