Issue 6 Home&Garden

Home and Garden

The Beacon

By: Kaitlin

November 21, 2008 - Issue 6 Series 1

Editorial - Sports - Entertainment - Home & Garden - Health & Beauty- Fundraisers - Classifieds & Ads - Clubs & Orgs . - Principal's Notes - Guidance - Puzzle

Pumpkins, Pumpkins, Pumpkins!

By: Katheryn

Pumpkins are the most popular fruits to use
and to eat during autumn. They are good to
eat and also contribute to having lovely
decorations around your home. They provide
fun for children around Halloween and a great
dessert for after Thanksgiving dinner.
The most popular use for pumpkins is probably
carving "Jack-'o-lanterns". Most children do
enjoy carving them and some adults do too.
The first thing you do before carving is to
choose the smoothest side of your pumpkin to
carve your design. You then cut a hole around
the stem of the pumpkin, large enough to fit
your hand through, and then take out the
pumpkin's insides, scraping the inner wall of
the pumpkin with a spoon to make it smooth.
Next, you take a permanent marker, and draw
the design you would like to put onto your
pumpkin then make the cuts with your knife,
using the picture you've drawn as your guide.
When you have finished cutting, gently push
out the pieces from the inside of the pumpkin.
Then place a candle inside and set it out as a
decoration.
Pumpkin carving has become very popular and
a large variety of tools and supplies are easily
available for purchase. You can purchase
carving kits that come with patterns and all
the tools necessary to carve your pumpkin.
You can also purchase kits of stickers to
decorate pumpkins. Newly available items for
decorating pumpkins are plastic and wooden
pumpkin dress up character kits, they are
decorative cutouts that you can just stick
onto the pumpkin to design the character of
your choice. Some characters that are
available are black cats and scarecrows. If
you choose a scarecrow, it can also be a nice
Thanksgiving decoration as well. Also, some
children just like to paint pumpkins.
Pumpkins also make beautiful fall decorations.
They can be arranged around your house,
inside your home, and they also make
excellent center pieces for a fall dinner.
The best kind of pumpkins to use for cooking
are called sugar pumpkins. These pumpkins
usually weigh between four and ten pounds
and the flesh is a brighter color orange and
sweeter than carving pumpkins. Some of the
most popular kinds of foods made with
pumpkins are pumpkin pies, pumpkin rolls, and
pumpkin bread. Some other tasty foods made
with pumpkins are pumpkin cookies, pumpkin
cake, pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin fudge,
pumpkin soup, and pumpkin pancakes.
Pumpkin seeds can also be a very tasty snack.
There are many different ways that you can
prepare the seeds, but I prefer that they are
sweet. The first thing you need to do is to cut
open the pumpkin and take out the insides,
separating the seeds from the stringy core of
the pumpkin, and then rinsing the seeds off.
Next, if you are preparing the seeds to be
sweet, you simply sprinkle the seeds with
cinnamon and sugar; you then spread them
onto a baking sheet. Bake them at 250? for
about 30 minutes. For more information on
preparing the pumpkin for use in the recipes
listed above or you own recipe, visit pumpkins
for cooking and baking.

Resources:

http://rochester.kidsoutandabout.com/main-ar
ticles/Pumpkins.html

http://www.ehow.com/how_2076238_carve-a
-jackolantern.html

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/34
7220/creative_uses_for_pumpkins.html?cat=32

If you have a little brother or sister and they
are bugging you over Thanksgiving break, here
are some activites you could do with them. You
could get them to trace their hand to make a
turkey and they can even color it. If you have
any beads around your house you could make
necklaces with them. If you have a car and
your license you could go to the store and get
some fake colorful feathers and some material
for a headband and glue the feather to the
headband and make Indian headbands with
your brother or sister. Look on the internet for
some pictures to color that have to do with
Thanksgiving and you could color with them. If
you have your drivers license, you could take
your brother or sister to go see a movie or
maybe even take them bowling and if you don't
have your license, you could watch a movie at
your house with them. If you don't want to go
see a movie or go to the bowling alley, you
could take them somewhere else. You could
take them somewhere out to eat. If you know
how to cook, you could show them how to
cook something easy if they are old enough to
cook. If you have a little brother and it's not to
cold outside, you could go play football or
basketball. If you have a little sister, you and
your sister could do makeovers. If you have a
game system like Xbox 360, you could play
video games with your brother or sister or if
you have a computer with games, you could
play with them on the computer.

Activites To Do With Your Siblings
Over Thanksgiving Break