How do I keep my pumpkins from rotting before Halloween?

Question

We had pumpkins come up in our garden. They ripened before we needed them to, but we picked them anyway. How can I keep them from rotting before Halloween?

Answer 1

Freeze them until halloween.

Answer 2

Do not freeze your pumpkins.  When you take them out of the freezer, they will turn to mush.

Take them and set them around a tree where it stays shady all day.  Do not set them where they can touch each other, you need for air to circulate around them.  If you have a couple that you really like, take them inside the house.  Set them on something like a cooling rake that you'd use when you bake cakes; just be sure to lay a towel on the rack first.  This will let air circulate around the whole entire pumpkin and it keep keep until after Halloween.

Where I live, the vines on the pumpkins die early every year.  I have pumpkins laying out in the field that I need to go pick up right now.