The garden is done, well almost

It frosted pretty good Tuesday morning. We had 28 degrees when we got up, so most everything is done. My majestic winter squash vines that climbed up a panel and were over 6 feet tall are pretty sad now. The leaves are all black and wilted. I am kind of sad to see it go, because it has been an awesome garden this year, but I am also glad it is done. Well, almost. The only things I covered to protect from frost were the tomatoes. I picked everything I could reach that was ripe or turning Monday afternoon. I probably picked about 30 pounds; I have no idea how many more pounds of tomatoes are in there, but I am sure a bunch. Saturday I will clean that patch and then we will dodge around boxes of tomatoes in the back porch as they ripen and I get juice made from them. 

So Monday I went out to check the cucumbers and cantaloupes. The cucumbers should have been picked on Friday but on Friday it was rainy and miserable, so I had some pretty giant ones. I just picked them all and said goodbye to the vines. Then I moved on to the cantaloupes and honeydew melons. What I found there astounded me. All but like two or three melons were ripe. In both the cantaloupe and honeydew, everything had ripened all at once. So I just picked them all. But now we do have a problem — more melons than we can eat before they go bad. I guess I will be hitting the farmers market. I moved on to the watermelons and found the same. They had all ripened, at least all but a couple. Darn, I love watermelon, but there is no way I can eat like 10 of them before they will spoil. So since I already have more melons than I can eat I just left them to frost. The chickens will enjoy them. 

Then I headed to the majestic winter squash. There is a story behind my winter squash. Over the years I have researched squash to discover which ones will cross-pollinate and which ones won’t. I know that buttercup and Hubbard will cross-pollinate, but neither of them will cross with acorn or butternut; in fact acorn will cross pollinate with zucchini and pumpkins. 

Well, I had a cousin give me a squash several years ago. It was a Hopi, an ancient squash that was grown by the Native Americans. I didn’t know what else he had near, but I saved the seeds. Last year I planted them and ended up with five different shapes of squash. Some looked like Hubbard, some looked like buttercup and some looked like Hopi. So this year I planted some seeds from the best looking Hopi from last year. I got squash that are colored like a blue Hubbard, shaped like a pear, and massive. 

So now the chickens get the garden. They will do a good job of tilling the top mulch and soon I will add more mulch to the mulched parts and start the last piece that will become a lasagna patch. 

Pumpkin soup

2.4 pounds unpeeled pumpkin (any type) or Butternut squash,

1 onion sliced

2 cloves garlic, peeled

3 cups vegetable or chicken stock

1 cup water

Salt and pepper. 

Cut the pumpkin into slices cut the skin off and scrape seeds out. Cut into chunks. Place the pumpkin, onion, garlic, broth and water in a pot, the liquid won’t quite cover all of the pumpkin, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer until pumpkin is tender, about 10 minutes. Remove from head and use a stick blender to blend until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir in ½ cup cream or half and half if desired. Serve with crusty bread.