Pumpkins

Working with cattle and vegetables resulted in two Illinois FFA members receiving national Agricultural Proficiency Awards.

In a season traditionally overflowing with good things to eat, let’s add another entry to the dessert table, shall we? I’m talking about pumpkin bread pudding. This recipe elevates bread pudding to holiday worthy status.

Indiana’s fall pumpkin yields will vary, depending on summer rainfall and irrigation, according to an expert at Purdue University. Pumpkin growth depends heavily on timely summer rainfall — and much of Indiana experienced hot, dry weather.

This Thanksgiving, your pumpkin pie might have a lower carbon footprint.On the central Illinois farms that supply most of the world’s canned pumpkin, farmers are adopting regenerative techniques designed to reduce emissions, attract natural pollinators and improve soil health.

Northwestern Illinois residents seeking farm-fresh sweet corn just need to travel a couple miles outside of the Fulton city limits to Sikkema Farm, where the seasonal crop is picked every day, rain or shine.

The first of 17 People’s Gardens across the United States is open in Chicago. The new garden is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s People’s Garden Initiative and it is located at the Urban Transformation Network at Metropolitan Farms.

National reports of fungus and wet weather threatening U.S. pumpkin crops had pumpkin lovers spooked ahead of Halloween and Thanksgiving. But pumpkin farmers and experts said there is nothing to fear locally.

Steve Leesman’s move into organic crop production began several years ago as an answer to consumer demand and he has continued this diverse farming operation in Logan County, Illinois.

Halloween is becoming one of the most popular holidays for collectors. Of course, children still dress in costumes and go door to door for treats, but the holiday items collectors are more interested in are the decorations that are created each year.

It’s that time of year when pumpkins are being harvested and readying to carve. And while carving a pumpkin can be a fun, festive, fall family event — as long as you know what you’re doing — it’s important to do so safely.

Two zebras that escaped from a suburban Chicago pumpkin farm had travelers on a state highway doing double takes as the exotic animals hit the road during their brief taste of freedom.

At Braeutigam’s Orchard, the company priorities start with a “P.” That includes people, peaches and pumpkins.

Pumpkin growers dread the tiny tan scabs that form on their fruit, each lesion a telltale sign of bacterial spot disease. The specks don’t just mar the fruit’s flesh — they provide entry points for rot-inducing fungus and other pathogens that can destroy pumpkins and other cucurbits from the inside out.

The annual Illinois Specialty Crop Conference will bring growers together through its new interactive, virtual format Jan. 6-8.