Although they did seem to enjoy the treasurer hunt harvesting the pumpkins and gourds. I think they were ready to finish and move on to more important things like the worms and toads that they had found while in the garden.
We are on the final countdown of the season. Next week will be week 17 which is an additional week due to the challenging growing season. With the beautiful 1 1/10 inch of rain that we received this past week, some of the crops have been reinvigorated. The lettuces and spinach are growing amazingly, and the sugar snap peas and green beans also are producing – finally! With this said, we want to see what the next 7 days do. There may be a bonus box the first week of October.
We spent a lot of time in the garden harvesting the gourds, squash and pumpkins.
Sam harvesting gourds.
A beautiful deep reddish-orange – Rouge Vif d’Etampes. Unfortunately the bugs beat us to the harvest, otherwise we would have had more for everyone! Picture taken by Sam.
Warty pumpkins are one of the boys favorites. Very fun to grow! Picture taken by Sam.
Man did these white pumpkins ever grow this year. The heaviest one weighted in at 60#. We also had a white and green blended pumpkin weight 50#.
Garden Science
Keith enjoyed climbing up the panels to harvest everything.
These are the swan gourds that grew on the fences. Funny how they grew straight (a great example of gravity) vs the ones that grew on the ground curled up. The two the boys are holding were 20″ and 19″. One of them that grew on the ground weighted in at 17#.
Boxes of Produce
Reminder to return any cups or plastic containers in your box each week. Remember food safety in your kitchen when preparing, always wash your produce before eating.
Black Seeded Simpson Elite Lettuce – One of my favorite garden crops.
Red Oak Leaf Lettuce – reddish lettuce
Prizehead – is the spear like green leaf.
Beet leaves – Some young beets will be available next week.
Broccoli – This will be the last few bites of broccoli this year. Enjoy in some fresh salad this week!
Tomatoes – Fourth of July (medium size red), Yellow Girls, Romas (long, narrow), Black Krim, Big Boy and super sweet cherry tomatoes 100. Hope you are able to freeze or can for soups or chilli later this winter.
Peppers – Try some stuffed peppers this week.
Onions – A few fresh onions to put in a recipe here or there.
Green Beans – This type of green beans are Providers.
Keith used a French fry cutter to make homemade French fries this weekend. We used a variety of potatoes.
Their favorite variety to use for French fries and for mashed potatoes are the blue potatoes.
Potatoes – Kennebec potatoes – great for baking; Norland potatoes – great for mashed potatoes; Blue potatoes – we made French fries and also mashed potatoes – the boys love the blue potatoes!
Cucumbers – Varieties include Fancipak and Straight Eights. Last of the cucumbers this week. If only we had received this beautiful rain a few weeks earlier, this crop harvest would have been extended.
Carnival Squash – This is a decorative, fun looking squash with a nutty flavor. It is a hybrid of Sweet Dumpling and an Acorn squash and has a shelf-life of up to three to four months. More information here. I make it like I do Butternut Squash – see recipe below.
Herbs – Cilantro, golden oregano, red basil and thyme. Don’t forget to wash and freeze these in ice-cube trays – great for soups later this winter.
Fresh cut arrangement
- Ornamental corn – Steve has already put a loop in the string. Simply hang it on a hook or nail. There is some additional left if you would like them for decoration. Check the extras next week.
- Gourds – Great for arrangements or fun fall painting projects with the kids.
- Pumpkins – Enjoy the variety!
- Swan Gourds – Here is the information to make them into bird houses later this winter.
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Ornamental corn – this was the best harvest year for this crop. What a variety and some beautiful ears of corn. Enjoy your bunches and notice there is already a looped tied on the back so you just need to hang them up.
Recipe of the Week
Butternut Squash/Carnival Squash
Our family loves this recipe, and the boys eat it like crazy. I also use the prepared squash in place of pumpkin in many recipes. Butternut squash was in your boxes last week and this recipe also works well on the Carnival Squash in your boxes this week.
The boys were beyond excited that we were making and freezing squash. They both do a great job with the hand mixer for this recipe.
*Cut squash in 1/2 add enough water to cover pan (about 1/2 inch up on the side of the pan). Bake at 375 degrees for about 1 hour.
*Take out of oven. Scoop out seeds. The seeds can be kept and roasted.
*Using a large knife cut off skin and place in another bowl.
Add:
1 stick of butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
Using a mixer, blend together until smooth. Serve.
Sam couldn’t wait to eat the squash. In fact he ate two bowls as soon as he was finished mixing it up. We used ice cream scoops to fill the muffin tins as we prepared them for freezing.
To save the extra, place in a cupcake tin and freeze. Place frozen portions in storage containers to be stored in your freezer. Enjoy!
I make the squash and freeze in muffin tins. Once frozen, I remove them from the tin and store them in a container or Ziploc bag. Simply thaw out a few when you need them for a meal. This works great!
