Photojournalism at its Finest

It's the circle of life, folks. I have harvested, cured and slaughtered my first pumpkin. Raised it myself, I did.

I cut it from the vine the morning of Halloween. The night before I actually fretted about it's safety, worried that hooligans would smash my precious #alienveggie in the All Hallows Eve tradition of violence against squash.

It has fully ripened since then, green alien skin now orange. A really gorgeous orange. Now I bake and puree and freeze. And BAKE. Oh, shall I bake!

Let's go steady!

Nature is Horny (and I have proof)

I haven't been gardening very long, just a few years. I plant things I'll eat and some things I just want to see grow. (The brussel sprouts that are growing right now, for instance, will go to a good home. One that isn't mine.) I try keep the soil weed-free, don't stress about watering regularly unless it's really hot, and every season I lay down a layer of the expensive brand of top soil. It's not a fancy garden, by any means.

I have had very good luck with broccoli and onions. My tomatoes and strawberries crops are a plentiful bounty. I've had failures, too. I finally have one cucumber from my third attempt, and it appears I planted the pickling variety. Then there's the elusive squash family. I've had a lot of trouble with this kind of veggie.

Earlier than I should have this year I planted jack-o-lantern pumpkin and zucchini.
The pumpkin went in an enclosed garden bed where my strawberries, rhubarb, rosemary and mint live. The zucchini, on the other side of the yard. Within a week or two the zuke turned sickly and died. The pumpkin plant thrived, its vine twisting and flowering gorgeous orange blossoms.

Since this is my fifth try in getting some damned squash, later on in the season I also put in acorn and another zucchini to show Nature I wasn't kidding around.

Nature wasn't kidding around, either. Here's what my pumpkin looks like today:

This jolly fellow is supposed to be the jack-o-lantern pumpkin I planted. It's the only one on the vine. Any other vine bulges that developed have subsequently shriveled, soon after. It's 15 inches long and 30 inches around, and as you can see its skin is suspiciously zucchini-like with an orange tinge where the white should be.

Methinks I have learned how very close the squash family is. (Ahem.) Feels like a tragic tale of separation and death, its legacy continuing in the love child that results. The love child I now need to figure out how to cook. I'm thinking PIE.

Let's go steady!