Delving into the Irish tradition of Jack O'Laterns

Ciara McDonnell hears how pumpkins are a fantastic plant for any would-be grower, particularly young growers wanting to get their hands dirty.

Last summer, landscape architect and horticulture lecturer Olive Ryan decided to plant some edibles in a field behind her home place in Dripsey.

Along with her nieces and chief garden hands Anna and Lily, she planted 100 pumpkin plants, alongside an array of speciality brassicas and leafy greens such as romanesco,

kalettes, and Nero di Toscana, a jade green Italian kale.

With a background in plant science and experience working in rural developments as a landscape architect, Olive is more aware than ever of the benefits of eating locally produced food, and this was what prompted her to start growing, crediting food writer Joy Larkin as an inspiration when it comes to growing unusual edibles in an Irish climate.

“I started growing so that I can have the flexibility to work from home,” she explains.

“I can see the benefit of eating locally grown food that is seasonally available. We have a pretty unique climate in that our winters are normally not that cold which enables growing all year.”

Her pumpkins have been one of the biggest successes of her foray into growing, and she says that they are a fantastic plant for any would-be grower to start with.

“I planted out about 100 pumpkin plants, 1 metre apart, on a south facing slope with some shelter around the perimeter and they just took off,” she says.

“They were a pleasure to watch growing over the summer months.”

Ryan says it’s essential to start these plants inside and bring them out once the risk of frost has passed and the seedlings are hardy, recommending late May as an opportune time to move them outdoors.

Pumpkins are enthusiastic growers, and don’t attract weeds like their leafy vegetable cousins, making them an ideal plant for children to grow. Ryan grew two varieties; the more traditional Jack O’Lantern, which is the round and bright orange traditional Halloween pumpkin, and Crown Prince, a more petite grey version with bright orange flesh. Both are excellent pumpkins for cooking, assures Ryan.

With a view to selling her produce, Ryan completed a diploma in Speciality Food Production last year, and the knowledge gained during her studies led her to grow grown yacón, a south American tuber, pumpkins, cabbage, kale and Brussels sprouts, all outdoors and chemical free.

She supplies The Table Square and Stoneview restaurants in Blarney with her vegetables, and her hope is to collaborate with local chefs to expand and develop the range of vegetables she grows out of Dripsey.

Of course, her pumpkin harvest is the most important one of the moment, and via her Facebook page, Dripsey Farm Fresh Veg, she’ll be selling the Halloween fruit and her glut of vegetables to the public.

Despite its seemingly American roots, the tradition of the pumpkin Jack O’Lantern at Halloween is actually an Irish tradition. As the story goes, hundreds of years ago, there was a carouser and a drunkard in a tiny Irish town called Jack. One night, the Devil heard about Jack and all his misgivings and decided to pop down to check him and for himself. Jack found himself without any money and in need of a drink, so he conned the Devil into paying for a drink in exchange for Jack’s soul.

After drinking his fill, Jack surrounded himself with crosses, and of course the Devil couldn’t take his payment. Years later, when Jack eventually died, he was refused at the gates of heaven as a result of all of his bad behaviour, and the Devil was still so cross, he refused to let him into hell. Left to roam the ethers for all eternity, Jack begged the Devil for a light to shine his way, and grudgingly he tossed him an ember, and so the Jack O’Lantern was born.

Every Halloween in Ireland gone by, when the veils between this world and the next were at their thinnest, we hollowed out turnips, potatoes, beetroots, and squash and placed a candle in them to ward off the bould Jack and his marauding ways.

In the 1800s, Irish immigrants in America realised that their pumpkins were softer, larger and easier to carve, and so the large orange fruit became the worldwide symbol of Jack O’Lanterns.

Olive Ryan’s Halloween harvest is the real deal, and while it doesn’t have the terrifying underbelly of Jack and his scary lanterns, judging by the wheelbarrows of produce she and her helpers have produced, Dripsey Farm Fresh Veg is an ideal spot to stock up for All Hallow’s Eve.