Ever since I've had a garden, I've been dreaming of growing my own Halloween pumpkin. Perhaps, like Linus, I want to believe that I have found the most sincere pumpkin patch-- not only found it, but cultivated it myself.
Unfortunately, for the first several years, the vines either didn't sprout, or they withered in July, or they thrived without setting a single fruit. Then there was the time when I had that perfect pumpkin, just the one, and right before it was perfectly ripe and ready, I returned to my garden after a few days away only to find it collapsed into a rotten heap of squash and seeds.
Last year, I finally got my first pumpkin, a wee little kettlebell-sized thing grown from a kit I got in my stocking. It was a nice fall decoration until I roasted it for pie. I did save the seeds though, and planted them in a three-sisters mound last spring. This year? I have seven pumpkins! All on the small side, but seven!
"What are you going to do with all of them?" a colleague asked me today when I showed them to our online class.
"Pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin muffins," I started. "And, since it's National Quesadilla Day," I told her, "I might make pumpkin quesadillas."
She and the kids laughed.
"No seriously," I continued, "seven is a lot of pumpkins! I'm going to make pumpkin curry, pumpkin tacos, pumpkin fried rice, pumpkin pasta...
"Pumpkin fries," she suggested.
"Yes!" I agreed, "and pumpkin tots, pumpkin rings, pumpkin kebabs, pickled pumpkin." I paused to think.
"You're like the Bubba Gump Pumpkin Company!" she said.
Right? And if I save the seeds again, next year I could have 49 pumpkins!
No comments:
Post a Comment