Or snows actually. Last night we were driving home from the store and it began snowing. Then it really snowed, so heavily we could hardly see the road. And the temperatures are diving from the 70’s down to 20 degrees. So I pulled all the peppers out of the hoop houses as it is not going to warm up anytime soon. I’m making tomato sauce like mad out of the ripened tomatoes on the front porch. I’ll have to bring the good, green ones indoors since the porch will soon be too cold for them to survive.

Likewise for the squash. As our huge pile of squash in the living room and downstairs bedroom are hindering walking, I’m cutting into them every day, taking out the seeds and using the meat for various uses from dehydrating to canning and baking. We sure do love our Borchardt’s Wonder. This pink, oblong heirloom squash is quite similar in taste to our favorite, Hopi Pale Grey. Fortunately, we have tons of squash and good seed from them where our poor Hopi Pale Greys got eaten up by the cows except for two small ones they missed. Luckily, though, friends, Erin, Mia, and Vala had good crops and said they’d save seed for me so I won’t disappoint customers. Erin already sent me two big bags of nice, fat seeds! Thank you so much! However, as we don’t have as many seeds as we usually do, and because this squash is so popular, we will only be offering 10 seeds per pack this year so more folks can get a start with it.

The big pink Borchardt’s Wonder squash have such velvety, sweet meat; perfect for baking and pies!

Another wonderful pumpkin we love is Olinka, which is not only decorative with orange stripes over dark green but has oh so tasty naked seeds. All you do is salt them and roast them; no hull to chew up. So cool! And, unlike many naked seeded pumpkins, the flesh is also quite good. What a winner in our book!

Isn’t the Olinka pumpkin pretty? Really productive too.
Inside the Olinka, there are handfuls of naked seeds, ready to toast and eat; no hulls!

We sure are enjoying our wild turkey family. I think three of the four “kids” are toms as they’re starting to strut in front of our old tom. Oh well, we still love them! And we’re glad they came home before serious snow begins. The snow we had last night never stuck around. Thank God! I’m not ready for it yet. Will still has a load and a half of round bales of hay to bring home. He had a flat on the front tractor tire yesterday, which slowed him down quite a bit, especially when it was raining all day. — Jackie

11 COMMENTS

  1. Thank you for sharing your life with the rest of us. I am in awe of how you persevere but as my elders would say “Life is a great game if you don’t weaken.” Glad to see that you are bouncing back with the Hopi Gray and getting ready for winter. Best Wishes.

    • You’re welcome, Patricia. We just keep keeping on and figuring out ways to overcome obstacles in our path as they always show up unexpectedly.

  2. Good grief, snow?!? Ah yes, that’s MN, where I grew up…and live in Des Moines now, ha. We have a bit longer growing season, but I do enjoy cool versus too hot, so there’s much to love about MN anyway.
    You are welcome for the Hopi Pale Grey seeds, I’m so glad to help in any small way I can. And, if folks do use all TEN seeds in a packet, holy moly they will need lots of square footage for those vines and squash. I did 2 hills of apx 5 seeds each, and allowed a huge area because I know they are rampant, and Still Had To steer them away from other veggies growing. Thanks to you, those will not be near extinction much longer! By the way, the pie recipe you have for those…the pumpkin pie, grin…was loved by even more folks who thought it was pumpkin pie. Now what I’m hoping for is someone to come up with a Hopi Pale Grey bar recipe, like the size of brownies or so? Anyone have some ideas?
    Erin
    Erin

    • Hey, Erin, just use a pumpkin bar recipe. The Hopi Pale Grey bars even taste better, just like the “pumpkin” pie!

  3. This time of the year can be overwhelming. We finished canning the last of the tomatoes. Now busy fixing fence for cattle yard. Sunny and cold here I’m hoping snow waits at least 2-3 weeks. You can never get it all done. I’ve never dehydrated squash-how do you do it and how do you cook it? Stay warm.

    • Squash is easy to dehydrate. I cut it in 1″ round slices, then peel it. After that, I cut the slices into slices about 1/4″ thick. Lay them out in a single layer on your dehydrator trays and dry. You can toss a handful of these into any chili, soup or stew. Or re-hydrate in hot water and mash to use as you would a fresh squash. I often use mine in a casserole. Yum.
      Yeah, Will’s got to get on our cattle yard fence; there are a couple broken planks. He got a good deal on used sheet metal roofing so he also hopes to get the roof up on the run-in shed too. You’re right; you never get it all done!

    • Wendy, THANK YOU for posting where you are writing from (we are a former Grandville, MI family)! I love reading replies to Jackie of peoples gardening adventures, but sometimes it’s frustrating not knowing if they are gardening in Florida or Alaska. :) Linda G Southwest Montana

      • I agree Linda; it is helpful to know where folks live. Especially if they’re having trouble growing something.

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