As I write this the temperature is climbing. We have a window or two open, knowing that soon enough we will be shutting up the house for the next three months or so we can protect ourselves and our cats against the onslaught of winter.
Our wood stove burned overnight to take the chill out of the air and I found myself buying new boots and gloves and driving home with the windows down.
This is the nature of autumn in Western Pennsylvania and as I sip on my pumpkin flavored coffee, I cannot help but praise the fruit of the season, and yes it is a fruit, the simple pumpkin.
A few things are still growing in our garden, the last of the herbs and tomatoes...a stray pepper or two that needs to be picked. Yet I find myself interested in growing pumpkins next year after realizing their potential and that they are high in nutritional value.
It's easy to forget in our modern world just how easy we have it as compared to our great grandparents and their grandparents. For the most part the majority of Americans don't have to worry about food scarcity or where their next meal is coming from but in the past the pumpkin was a staple to ensure that you had enough food for the winter.
However the world is warming at an alarming rate and although I don't believe in the collapse of our civilization any time soon, I do believe that we are only one or two disasters from things falling apart for short periods of time. This actually can effect pumpkin crops so hybrids are being developed to withstand warming temperatures.
What I discovered was interesting because not only are pumpkins healthy but they are easy to preserve as well and pumpkins can last up to five months which was more than enough time to get our ancestors through winter and into the beginning of the next growing season. An "average" pumpkin will weigh about four to five pounds.
Every part of the fruit is edible and can be used in a variety of ways that I won't go into here but they can be preserved by freezing, drying and traditional canning techniques.
Another benefit of pumpkins is that deer love them, and they are often used by hunters to lure deer even to this day; although that also means that the gardener must take precautions against them as well. They are an annual native species and require a bit more TLC than other plants might but considering the yield and modern preservation methods pumpkins only make sense as an addition to the garden.
It should be noted that pumpkins release methane as they break down and should be used in your compost pile or broken up to feed the various birds and woodland creatures.
So anyhow, just a bit on the lovely pumpkin that I thought was worth sharing with you my gentle readership.
I'd love to grow pumpkins and squash in general to get through winter, but the squash bugs get them every time unfortunately. I'm trying the sheer numbers game next year for sure.
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