Don’t throw away (or compost) the innards of your pie or jack-o-lantern pumpkins!  Amongst the tricky pith are treats, delicious seeds! By the way, a serrated grapefruit spoon is my favorite tool for scooping pumpkin flesh. Soak the pumpkin innards in water for a bit and then separate seeds from stringy pulp by hand.  Rinse the seeds in clear water again until they are completely free of orange goop. Strain through a sieve to remove [...]

‘Tis the season to eat pumpkins.  Making your own puree for pie, soups, and baking is a simple and delicious.  Here’s how: Choose your pumpkin.  Pie pumpkins have the richest flavor but you can do this with any pumpkin if you wish. Halve your pumpkin. Remove the innards.  I like to use a grapefruit spoon because the serrated edge helps cut through the stringy bits.  You can reserve seeds for roasted pumpkin seeds or garden [...]

One of the most satisfying plants to grow, in my opinion, is squash.  Zucchini, summer, acorn, butternut, pumpkin, and the like are all tremendously easy, delicious, and big. Sometimes size does matter. Squash seeds send out large leaves just a few days after direct seeding.  The leaves grow big and wide quickly.  Kids love squash plants because they literally grow overnight. Wide leaves shade out weeds and reduce the need for watering.  They also hide [...]