Frost on the pumpkin

We got our first frost this week. Not a "hard frost" as they say, but certainly a cooooooooooold morning and some frost on the ground. It's been a lovely October so far, the colors have come to the trees in good measure and I can't help but admire the landscape on a sunny day. I just try hard to enjoy each clear, crisp morning and not think about the grey skies of November.

Funny thing about "frost on the pumpkin" as a phrase. I've often heard it said and it used it myself quite a bit. Turns out it comes from a poem and the phrase in the poem is "When the frost is on the punkin" with pumpkin misspelled. I find it ironic since "punkin" is a misspelling I've had to call people out on in the past.

Here's a bit more from the poem by James Whitcomb Riley:

They's something kindo' harty-like about the atmusfere

When the heat of summer's over and the coolin' fall is here—

Of course we miss the flowers, and the blossoms on the trees,

And the mumble of the hummin'-birds and buzzin' of the bees;

But the air's so appetizin'; and the landscape through the haze

Of a crisp and sunny morning of the airly autumn days

Is a pictur' that no painter has the colorin' to mock—

When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock.

Pondering on frost conditions also made me think about the difference between hard frost and light frost. I knew there was a difference, but wasn't sure what. Well, a quick google turns up that a hard frost brings both the air and the soil below freezing. This distinction is important in gardening because some plants can withstand a light frost, but will die off in a hard frost.