Halloween

Halloween is near and the smell of pumpkins fill the air. People spend all month getting into the Halloween spirit. Whether it is decorating their lawn, carving pumpkins, or even attending a haunted house or corn maze, people love this time of year. Of course you can’t forget about trick or treating. I remember as a kid I would always get dressed up to go trick or treating in my Cinderella costume. Because it is Iowa, my costume always ended up being covered up with a heavy winter coat or even sometimes snow pants. It never fails to be extremely cold and sometimes even snowy in Iowa on Halloween.


For a lot of people this is their favorite month and the American population who participate will in total spend $9 billion on Halloween. This year roughly, $3.2 billion will be spent on costumes, $2.7 billion on decorations, $2.6 billion on candy, and $400 million on greeting cards. If it were up to me we would take out the greeting card money and add it to the candy pile.


If you are a kid growing up on a farm however, Halloween might seem like a confusing time. Farmer rules and Halloween rules aren’t always the same thing. For example, people will put up huge corn mazes for the holiday and encourage everyone to walk through, but farmers always tell their kids never to play in corn fields. My dad had strict rules to make sure we stayed out of the corn fields for as long as I can remember. We were not allowed to play in the corn as a small child could easily get lost. At pumpkin patches there will often be huge sandboxes full of shelled corn. Again, farmers always inform their children to never play in the corn. Bins filled with grain are always off limits. We are never to go inside without an adult and shovel, and even then it is not for fun. Both of these are huge dangers for young children on a farm looking for somewhere to play.


Farm rules and Halloween pumpkin patch/corn maze rules are completely different. These strict rules need to be stressed to all kids and even some adults reminding them of the dangers of these things on a real farm. Farm safety week was not that long ago and makes me realize that everyone should always be informed of the potential dangers of playing in the corn that is not in a Halloween setting.


Have fun and enjoy the Halloween festivities but be sure to remember any other day it is not safe to play in the corn on the farm. I hope everyone has a great Halloween and don’t eat too much candy! 

 ~ Kesley Holdgrafer