Fall harvest  (2010)  by Mary


In the early Spring, soon after we finished planting our orchards, I planted five hills of sugar pie pumpkins in one orchard and about the same of butternut squash in another. After the seeds came up, I thinned the hills to 3 or 4 plants per hill. We discovered that our ground and climate must be perfect for these winter squash, as the pumpkins completely covered the 20 X 30 foot orchard bed, grew out the fence, and all over the place. Two different times, we didn't go to the farm for two weeks when it stayed above 90 degrees with no rain, and they were unfazed. We harvested around 100 pumpkins, plus some that didn't fully ripen that were fed to the chickens. The butternut squash also did well. From this experience, we noticed the deer didn't bother the vines that grew through the fence, so in the future we can plant the winter squash family in the open.  

I love firsts! The first time to grow pumpkins and the first time I baked pumpkin pie from scratch. When you grow the pumpkin from seed, that is REALLY from scratch!  I won't need 'Libby' anymore!

We never tired of eating roasted pumpkins seeds. I tried three recipes, but our favorite was with butter, garlic salt, and onion salt. 

The butternut squash was so naturally sweet and delicious. I froze it in two serving containers, but often fixed it for my lunch and ate it all myself!  

We had a few acorn squash, and plan to grow more next year.

Cantaloupe also grow well at the farm, and I can eat a half a day. Too bad they don't keep like winter squash. Larry doesn't care for cantaloupe and didn't understand how I could forget to grow watermelon. (He who decided to have two surgeries during planting season!) 

The pumpkin vines filled up our variety orchard, went through the fence, and all over the place.

Sugar pie pumpkins

Butternut squash

We took advantage of the space between the berries to grow potatoes. 

Yukon gold potatoes

The orchards

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