Patch perfect: Ireland's farmers carve a niche with American-style pumpkin experiences
Two excited young visitors, Natalie and Ruby Ryan enjoy one of the seasonal photo opportunities at Joe’s Farm in Killeagh, Co. Cork, as part of the Pumpkin Picking Experience, walking through the fields surrounded by harvest displays and Halloween scenes : Picture Chani Anderson
A long time ago, in the wilds of west Kerry, a young man was robbing apples when the Divil himself appeared.
Quick-witted, Jack lured the Divil up a tree to fetch the juiciest apple.
But when the Divil climbed down, he found a crucifix at the base and was trapped.
After a year and a day, Jack decided to cut a deal with the Divil — on condition that he would never be admitted to hell.
Many years later, when Jack died, St Peter turned him away from heaven, and the Divil kept his word at hell’s gate.
With nowhere to go, Jack took out his trusty knife and carved two holes in a turnip he had found nearby.
Today, he still walks the darkness between heaven and hell with this lantern, looking for orchards to rob from.
This story of Jack O’Lantern is one of many tales you are likely to hear at this month’s Spirit of Samhain Festival at Killarney Pumpkin Farm.
“We’re at the foot of the Paps Mountains,” says farm owner, DB O’Connor.
“The area is known as Sliabh Luachra. It was cut off from the rest of the country with no major roads into the area until the middle of the 1800s. So a particular style of music, dance and storytelling would have survived here and it’s full of ancient mythology and legend.”
Now in its fifth year, this spooktacular mini-festival, like so many great ideas, was born out of necessity. O’Connor was working as a tour guide and coach driver when the covid pandemic struck.
“The magic of the place is special,” O’Connor says. “I got chatting to some colleagues when the pandemic hit and we came up with this idea of a festival.”
This lovely family event has become so popular that organisers have had to allocate time slots and limit visits to two hours.
As you wander around among the winding pumpkin vines, you’ll saunter agog through the carriage of a ghost train, dance under fairy lights at a Pixie Disco and learn to cast spells at the enchanting Potion Station.
With face paint and food on offer, there’s plenty of fun for everyone and of course you get to pick that all-important pumpkin.
“Growing them really depends on the weather,” says O’Connor.
“They need a lot of sunshine and they got that this year. We sow the seeds in polytunnels at the end of May and when they get to a certain height we get them out into the field and plant them by hand. They’re very labour-intensive. This year has been my best crop.”
Pumpkins are not native to these shores. Though carving scary heads out of vegetables probably goes back hundreds of years, these large orange fruits are a very new addition to the age-old Irish tradition that is Samhain.
“The oldest pumpkin seeds are actually from Mexico,” says Jenny Butler, lecturer in the Study of Religions at University College Cork.
“In Ireland, we carved vegetables like turnips or beetroots. Like a lot of the traditions they went to America from Ireland and while they were there, they were transformed. Pumpkins were bigger and easier to carve. And then with American movies and popular culture, the traditions were reimported back to us.”
According to Butler, there are records and written testimony that bear witness to the use of the turnip in Ireland at Halloween.
Today, an example of what these odd vegetables might have looked like is preserved in the Museum of Country Life in Castlebar, albeit in a somewhat less organic manner.
“What we have here is not an actual turnip but a plaster cast of one that was sent in to us in 1943,” says Clodagh Doyle, keeper of the Irish Folklife Collection.
“It was sent in to the Irish Folklore Commission based in UCD by a school teacher from Finntown in Donegal. Her name was Rose Brennan. She wrote a letter with it explaining that this was the type of decoration that was made “two score” before, so 40 years before. She said it was common in the area and there are mentions elsewhere of kids carving turnips. It wasn’t unique to Ireland necessarily. We know that there were people carving turnips in Poland, for example. But the idea was the same: it was about keeping evil at bay or distracting evil.”
In Killeagh, East Cork, Sandra and Joe Burns have been using vegetables to keep away the evils of hunger in a rather less scary manner for over 20 years.
In the early 2000s, they would grow and sell their produce at various farmers’ markets around Cork. But in 2014, after a supermarket war that used vegetables as a loss leader, they were forced to pivot and set up Joe’s Farm Crisps.
“We started making them in our kitchen,” recalls Sandra Burns. “We’d bring them along to our stalls and hand them out to people at the various markets we went to. People started asking us to make more and offering to buy them. We sold our first 37 bags in March of 2014.”
Today they’re more likely to sell 37 pallets than 37 bags. Many of their clients are high-end hotels and artisan food shops whose customers are on the lookout for something local, unique and pure.
Joe’s Crisps are made using beetroots, carrots, parsnips and of course, good old-fashioned potatoes, with all of the main ingredients grown, picked, chopped on the farm and cooked in what Sandra affectionately refers to as ‘the shed’.
As well as making these unique food offerings, the couple decided to invite people to enjoy their farm and to educate them around the process of growing vegetables.
“We could see that there was a real disconnect between people and their food,” says Burns.
“Even chefs would ask for carrots in April and May, and we’d have to tell them we were only planting them then. So we came up with the idea of bringing people to the farm.”
Joe’s Farm Crisps now offer seasonal tours and one of the highlights of the year is always their increasingly popular Pumpkin Picking event that runs throughout the month of October.
The event was inspired by a visit to a pumpkin farm outside Boston during a two week holiday over twenty years ago. Though it took a while to materialise – the guts of fifteen years – Sandra feels the market for days out like this is growing, particularly around Halloween.
“Our events are hands-on farm experiences,” says Sandra.
“There is a route laid out and there are lots of photo opportunities, but I suppose the most important thing is that it’s an educational experience. You pick carrots with the dirt on them, potatoes and pumpkins. It’s very important for us that people pick their pumpkin from where it grows and they can see the vine they grow on. It’s all about showing them where their food comes from. That’s why we started it eight years ago.”
This year looks set to be another busy Halloween for Sandra and her family and she’s advising those who want to visit to book early so they can enjoy the best of what’s on offer.
“You’ll need about two hours at least,” says Burns. “Apart from the pumpkin picking, we have our own farm hand cut chips, we have pizza from our friends at Saturday Pizza and my 19-year-old son, Conor, will be making pumpkin pizza. My 17-year-old daughter, Megan, makes gorgeous brownies that she’ll be selling in the farm shop along with other cakes and coffee. So we have loads there, but remember it is a working farm so you need to wear wellies and you’re better off booking for earlier in the month before all the biggest and best pumpkins are gone.”
For those looking for something closer to the city, Down Syndrome Cork’s Pick a Pumpkin Harvest Festival is a guaranteed winner. The event takes place at their Field of Dreams campus, a three-acre horticultural site on the busy Clash Road in Curaheen.
“We provide employment and training for sixty-four adults with Downs Syndrome,” says Debbie Kelleher, Care Coordinator Downs Syndrome Cork.
“What’s unique about our event is that all of our pumpkins are grown from seed on site by the students and the horticultural team together. We sow about one thousand pumpkin seeds. When people come in, it’s a live pumpkin patch.”
As well as pumpkin trails, live city-dwelling sheep and the chance to chill in their cosy log cabins, visitors can win prizes for guessing the weight of a pumpkin, dance the day away in fancy dress or relax in the campus café. And it’s all for a great cause.
“It’s a fun family day,” says Kelleher. “The kiddies love it and they get a chance to see all our other gardens too. We have a sensory garden, a lavender garden, an orchard and vegetable patch. So there’s lots to see and all the money we raise stays in our charity.” Not even the Divil himself could argue with that.
- The Pick a Pumpkin Festival takes place at the Field of Dreams in Curaheen on October 5 and 12. Booking is essential, see exa.mn/pickpumpkin
- Joe’s Farm Crisps and The Spirit of Samhain Festival at Killarney Pumpkin Farm are hosting events throughout October.
- joesfarmcrisps.ie/pumpkin-picking-booking
- killarneypumpkinfarm.ie
