Swan's Pumpkin Farm Owner Shares His Jack-O-Lantern Knowledge

The Jack-O-Lantern is probably the most universal symbol of Halloween and there are many different explanations as to its origin.

One theory, according to Logosourcepages.org, is about Stingy Jack who played tricks on everybody, including the devil. So when Jack died, heaven and hell both refused him entry. Since then, Jack has been roaming the earth holding a carved out turnip with a burning coal in it to guide him. Today, people use pumpkins because they are much easier to carve than a turnip.

Over the years pumpkin carving has really become an art.  Ken Swan, from said that there are many tools available for creative carving.

“It just depends on how intricate you want to get,” Swan said. “Growing up, we just used a plain old knife.” 

However, some artists actually use the Dremel tool. Swan's pumpkin farm sells the pumpkin carver master kit that even comes with design templates.

“Years ago in the 1980s, John Bardeen, inventor of the pumpkin master carving kit, came to the farm and bought quite a few pumpkins. We didn't know what they wanted them for.” As it turned out the Swan's pumpkins, Jack-O-Lanterns actually, ended up being featured on the back of John Bardeen's kits.

Swan also said the key to preserving a Jack-O-Lantern is to keep them hydrated.

“Some artists actually keep them in a bathtub full of water while they are not being shown,” he said. “But it mostly it just depends on the weather.”

But the most important way to have a great carving pumpkin is to pick a good “sound” one, Swan said.

Matt Stiles, a Swan’s employee, is a picker. He helps move the pumpkins from the fields to where shoppers buy them. He said he gets a lot of sun and is sometimes very sore. 

”But, extra protein in the morning helps,” he said. Thanks to his endurance, the pumpkins are readily available to us without having to traipse through the fields ourselves.

As Linus Van Pelt said, ” Oh, Great Pumpkin, where are you?”

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