Friday, October 7, 2016

The Great Pumpkin Arrives



 With food production as a major focus this year, we added pumpkins to our garden areas. We roped off a section of the area our horse grazed in last year, tilled it and presto chango! Horse turds evolved into orange spheres. 
Organic gardening is so cool.

Stop with the frowning. Ennnis' manure was well rotted and mixed in with dirt, straw and other organic materials which created the perfect environment for squash, pumpkins and various corn varieties. The sugar pie pumpkins ripened last week and we've stored much of them in our small feed shed, but since I want to get it used up before things start freezing around here I'm been busy cooking with it, freezing it, and even making soap with it.


I'll show you the soap next post.

Preparing it for use takes some time but not much skill. Bingo. I'm in. I halved the globes, removed the pulp and seeds, the seeds were salted and roasted separately, and put the two halves in the oven at 350 for about 30 minutes or until the flesh was fork tender. Then I scooped out the soft innards (after letting it cool) and pureed them in my food processor. 




To freeze, just put the pureed pumpkin in any kid of freezer container. I use old cottage cheese containers. We have enough pumpkins that I hope to can some of the puree as well. Haven't made a pie yet, but I will, I certainly will. 


15 comments:

  1. I peel mine, cut the flesh into chunks, and freeze like that. It usually (always) goes into soups, so its eventual mushiness is OK. I sowed mine on an old compost heap this year. They produced masses of huge leaves, but only two Pumpkins; one big, one small.

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    1. Pumpkin soup. Never had it but it is obviously time to try it. care to share your recipe here or on your blog?

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  2. Oh those look like impressive pumpkins. At first I thought they were ever MORE impressive, at a quick glance at your top photo I thought that was a real truck full of HUMUNGOUS pumpkins!!

    I forgot to sow any pumpkin seeds this year!! At first I wasn't too bothered as I had put in some Butternut Squash seeds, but they all gave me lots of greenery and teeny tiny fruits that then proceeded to go mouldy and drop off. Now I wish I had put in some outdoor pumpkins as well.

    Oh well I'll drool over yours instead ;-)

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    1. I WISH ours were that big, think of all the publicity! Sorry your butternut squash was a bust, if it makes you feel any better our sweet corn crop never got picked. At least the pigs enjoyed the old stuff.

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  3. manure is nature's best fertilizer. thanks for the farm memories. we roasted and scooped pumpkin 'flesh' and roasted seeds, too.

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    1. Your welcome (for the memories) and thanks for dropping by. For those of you here who are not aware of TexWisGirl Blog you must check her out. One cool photographer!

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  4. Your harvest reminds me of a friend who loved to garden even in the smallest townhouse yard. She planted her squash in the old compost box every year & had the plants climb up the lattice framework she put on top of the fence across the yard like grape vines. She liked to sit in the shade when it got hot. One year, her youngest had to climb the walnut tree across the alley to harvest the pumpkins that grew up the lattice into the overhanging branches, across the alley & halfway around the tree. The neighbors all laughed at pumpkins growing in the Walnut tree!!

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    1. I can so relate! One year on our old farm we planted pumpkins too close to our evergreens and voila! Pumpkins growing next to the pine cones. A great sight.

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  5. Congratulations on your pumpkin harvest! There are so many ways to cook these but my favorite is to simmer chunks in coconut milk, chicken stock and Indian spices. Then add shrimp and serve over rice. It's amazing.
    For the record, I didn't frown at the horse turd comment I burst out laughing.

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    1. I agree with Sharon, that sounds amazing! I asked Cro above to share his pumpkin soup recipe can you share your shrimp/pumpkin dish? I'm getting tired of pumpkin cake.

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    2. I agree with Sharon, that sounds amazing! I asked Cro above to share his pumpkin soup recipe can you share your shrimp/pumpkin dish? I'm getting tired of pumpkin cake.

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  6. I totally agree with the horse turd comment but not the canning of pumpkin puree, sorry :( here is a link for canning pumpin not puree http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_04/pumpkin_winter_squash.html
    It is really so easy and you just drain and you have pumpkin at your finger tips no defrosting. Ready for making pies! Just sayin'

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