Tales from Swallow Farm

Thursday, 4 October 2012

11 kilograms of Pumpkin.

This pumpkin outgrew its skin so I picked it early.

The pumpkin didn't look very big
... until I started chopping it up.
Had a good go at chopping my finger too!

We are approaching the time of year when tons of healthy, nutritious food gets needlessly thrown away. For in this country there is no great tradition of growing and eating pumpkins, except for their novelty value, famous as being the vegetable that grows to huge proportions, and obviously for carving into amusing ghoulish faces in which to place candles on the night of Halloween.

But I have discovered that pumpkin is actually deliciously tasty...which is a good thing. For this pumpkin weighed in at 11kg of flesh, after peeling and scooping out the seedy part. I have at least another dozen of these Pumpkin Hundredweight. I deliberately didn't grow them to huge proportions, letting more than one grow on a plant if it wanted and leaving the leaves on the plants to ramble over the ground. The wonderful thing about pumpkins is that they stay edible for ages, the nutty flesh sealed inside the tough skin where it stays fresh for months. This one had to be harvested a little early as it split its skin, but the flesh cooked up a treat and Sue turned half of it into bacon and pumpkin soup.

On other matters, it's been a quiet time on the farm, just getting on with things. I should really be clearing veg plots, tidying and cleaning in preparation for winter. I've a couple of crops to start off too - some Autumn planting onion sets and garlic cloves. Many of the animals are close to freezer ready now - the pigs, the fattening lambs and several young cockerels need to go too.

Sun rise is becoming easier to catch, beyond 7 o'clock now, so on work days the animals can be fed at the same time. Autumn's sun rises can be stunning, or grey! Here's the first four to show what I mean.