Bring out your pumpkins
In America, in the Fall, the people buy pumpkins and put them on their front door steps. Their stoops.
An estimated THREE million pumpkins are purchased in the United States during the month leading up to Halloween. Many people carve scary Halloween faces into their pumpkins to keep that old Irish drunk Stingy Jack at bay, but most simply place a pumpkin on the steps and call it good. It is a lovely colourful tradition (though I would rather cook the pumpkins, make pumpkin soup and invite the drunk to dinner) but each to his own.
I spend the whole month watching the pumpkins sitting on peoples steps and hoping there will not be a bad frost that rots the pumpkins before we can collect them. Because collect them we do. Not three million but we do get a few. And every day for as long as they last I break a pumpkin up, with a sharp spade and divide this good food amongst the pigs. Pumpkins and their seeds have a good portion of Iron and calcium and are very high in Vitamin A. (Plus low in cholesterol for those of you who count such things.) Very good food.
We collect pumpkins, black walnuts and bags and bags of autumn leaves.
Autumn is a good time for the pigs.
I hope you have a lovely day
Love your friend
celi
61 Comments on “Bring out your pumpkins”
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Oh good! I caught you before I have to go to sleep at an unnaturally early hour, in order to see the Husband off to work at 4.30am. I was quite sad to think I’d have to wait for 7 hours before I could read the Farmy doings.
Mr Flowers’ tail is what caught my eye first – those feathers are coming through beautifully. And of course, how can I resist Miss Tima, who is increasingly resembling a pumpkin herself these days, though given she’s on strict rations I’m not at all sure how she does it. I’d quite like to grab some of those pumpkins myself and make a big batch of curried pumpkin soup for the freezer.
I took most of that pumpkin off her too! It was a tussle with her squawking (with her mouth full) the whole time but she had to share with Miss Molly -in the shot at the bottom of the page! I think she just has a rubenesque figure.. c
Traditionally built…. greedy minx.
I’m eating a pumpkin that my neighbor gave me to add to my compost pile. It is good food – can’t wait to try your soup recipe.
Oh what is that saying one mans meat is another mans poison or something! perfect.. c
Our piggies ate their first jack-o-lantern last week! They ran around with bits of it. Them pigs are funny.
I am glad you go pigs – they are hilarious – and your photos are wonderful.. c
my pigs are loving their pumpkins in a big way, so good
We can never gather enough – I hope the left overs in the supermarkets go on sale this week.. c
Best of luck on it, I tried talking to a couple local pumpkin growers on if they would sell the leftover pumpkins at farm feed prices and all three said they would rather compost them out then sell them that cheaply.. So I sighed and grow more of my own 🙂
I’m sure everyone loves that last shot as much as I do. I feel like it’s just for me, even though I know it’s for everyone. So personal, somehow. Tima, mastering her pumpkin, is quite a sight. Is her belly touching the ground? She’s such a diva.
Yes that is Miss Molly – she is such a pretty pig – with her head just so. c
That last photo is just too adorable for words… Good morning, c. xx
Good morning Misky!
I have been told raw pumpkin and butternut seeds are good dewormers for dogs and cats. I put in a bowl with about half a cup of water and blitz for a few seconds and then add to next meal. Did Tane get a look in eventually, looks like Tima was hogging it all? 🙂 Laura
Tane had already sprinted to the corner with his piece – he is allowed more than her being the Jack Sprat of the two.. c
They look like they are enjoying it. I always roast our jack-o-lantern after Halloween and use it to make breads, muffins, roast and seasoned seeds, and a wonderful pumpkin and kale salad. That reminds me that I have to post the recipe in my blog. Have a great day Miss C!
Pumpkin and kale salad? yes please – let me know when that recipe is up! c
Well time slips away, as it does, I finally posted this recipe along with a link to the original site where I got the recipe. It is so good, I hope you try it. Let me know if you like it!
NB Viv: make that pumpkin soup!
Everyone loves that last pic – I’ve pinched it for a pome.
Enjoy your day
love,
ViV xox
You too Viv, We have another good frost this morning! c
As recyclersa said, good dewormer, not just for dogs and cats, but chickens, humans, and any other critter that will eat them. Chickens love raw pumpkin meat too.
excellent! c
I must also make the ‘pumpkin rounds’ to collect them for our animals too! Do you compost the bags of leaves, or chop and put them into the garden for mulch? We spend days doing both with our leaves here!
The bags of leaves I tie shut and heave into the shed and leave (‘scuse the pun) for a year then into the garden. Perfect by then – or into the chook house then into the compost in the spring. c
I concur! People in the neighborhood donate to me too. I love them!! It gives me an excuse to go into the backyard and enjoy them. XOXO – Bacon
Lucky you Bacon! good wee piggy.. c
I pass two large fields of unused pumpkins on the days I take care of my granddaughter. Row after row of pumpkins grown in the hopes to be sold at the local (and very large) pumpkin patch operation that turn out to be slightly imperfect for sale and thus go unharvested and wasted. I have been thinking of you quite a bit each time I see these simply rotting in the field, waiting to be plowed under. I so wish that I could magically transport some of them to the farmy for you. I hate to see this waste.
Oh that would make Sheila and I weep! c
I like carving them but I’m not keen on the taste, so the pigs are welcome to mine. I do like roasted pumpkin seeds though.
I’ll have to tell Molly Parkin she’s had a pig named after her – good job it’s a pretty one 😉
recycling at it’s best my farmy friend….and the last photo is totally the best yet! Cheers!
Once I thought these Helloween pumpkins are not edible because the were letting out until being rotten. Though they let them mold nonetheless… what time do we live in. It’s good that you can get them and collect them for you and the animals before they are done.
Did Tima open the pumpkin all by herself? I saw a photograph of a sceleton head of a wild pig lately. They got four big front teeth in their lower jaw not standing upright but nearly horizontal with whom they dig and saw and cut everything.
Beside that golden header photo I love that shot with Molly – she and her mate always look friendly, very content and so happy.
Have a lovely day, Celi.
I thought of you on Saturday as my husband and I dropped leaves and branches off at the compost pile in town and I saw many pumpkins scattered throughout the piles.
I agree, Miss Molly is just gorgeous. She doesn’t even look real; looks more like a stuffed toy, she is so perfect. You said that the majority of pumpkins don’t end up as jack-o-lanterns, and that surprises me. I have rarely see one that wasn’t carved up. I wonder if that’s a regional thing, where in some areas they do and some they don’t. Well, I have made pumpkin soup and pumpkin pie, and loved them both, but that’s about all I’ve done with pumpkins — oh, and each year it’s my job to roast the seeds when my grand daughter brings them to me. But was thinking I bet a pumpkin loaf (like lemon or banana loaves) would be wonderful… I must look for a recipe. Have you ever grown pumpkins? I have heard they are very simple to grow, if you have the space for them. Might not be able to keep the piggies out of the patch though, if you did. Hope you have a wonderful day too! ~ Mame 🙂
I have tried to grow them and again and again i fail – and with so much space set aside for the pumpkins – c
ahhh, so what I’ve heard about pumpkins being easy to grow isn’t quite so then. Too bad. Well,Tima is too piggy, in any event… lol All well, perhaps someone with extras will show up.
Here, Mame. This is the best pumpkin bread recipie. You can make your own pumpkin puree if you have the pumpkins if not use the canned. This is something make at my house every fall and into the winter too. Great with a thin skin of fresh butter or plain. You can just pour into muffin tins if you like. At times a simple glaze on top is nice. I usually don’t bother with the topping, but do put it on if giving for gifts (always asked for which makes the Christmas gift list easy). Enjoy!
Pumpkin Bread
Makes 2 loaves
INGREDIENTS:
4 eggs, beaten to a froth
3 cups sugar
1 cup salad oil
2 cans solid pack pumpkin or (2 cups fresh preped pumpkin)
1 teasp. ground cinnamon
1 teasp. ground cloves
1/2 teasp. ground nutmeg
3 cups flour
1 1/2 teasp salt
1 teasp. baking soda
TOPPING (OPTIONAL):
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 teasp ground cinnamon
INSTRUCTIONS:
Beat eggs to a froth, add oil and pumpkin.
Mix flour with baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and clove.
Slowly add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture.
Pour into greased and floured loaf pans (mini loaf pans or muffin pans work as well.
If adding topping: mix brown sugar and cinnamon then sprinkle on top of dough before baking.
Bake in 350º oven for 60 to 75 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
Remove from pans and cool on racks.
Can be easily cut in half for one loaf
That’s the finest pig picture that I’ve seen in a long time…:)
Miss Molly is amazing! I love her! When we used to do a pumpkin patch at church I would call a local farmer friend at the close of it and he would come and take all the unsold pumpkins for his cows. They loved them and I loved being able to just give BJ a call to come collect what was leftover. It was a win win for both of us!
Our across the road neighbor contracts with someone to bring the end-of-season pumpkins from somewhere and he arranges them all across his vast lawn. A good 3/4 acre of pumpkins are for us to admire, resembling a pumpkin patch from our windows. He puts them there for the squirrels and mice and deer, who have a feast for quite sometime. We have English walnuts, which we have harvested in the past, but, now leave for the creatures, including a big bin from which the squirrels, I swear, get drunk on the walnut juice. 🙂 Life is good – and colorful here in the fall.
G ‘Morning Celi, I love these piggies!! Miss Molly looks like Miss America!! love this pose!! Put her on the calendar!!! Great picture of Tima ~ she looks like a pumpkin herself!! I think you should load up all the piggies and take them to that field that Deb drives past!! Can’t you see them running all over and having a pumpkin blast!!! Have a good one ~ haven’t forgotten the Farmy ~ just been too busy to even jot a note to you!!
I love that shot at the bottom what a happy, happy pig!
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
https://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com/sherlock-boomer
Ooh that last shot – fabulous! And I enjoyed reading about Stingy Jack – that was a new story for me.
We give pumpkins to many of our zoo animals, too. For entertainment and nutrition. My giant tortoises LOVE them. Big Al promptly parked his 525lb bulk on top of the last one I threw in.
OH I WANT A TURTLE!!! c
Oh, that last photo made me smile! Such a comical little face.
I blitz whole pumpkins in the blender, add garlic and chilli and make pumpkin soup for the chickens, it’s a good de-wormer as well as all round full of nutrients. I saw a You-tube the other day of elephants in a zoo enjoying pumpkins, stomping them open and having a feast and fun. Not keen on pumpkin soup myself, but that leaves more for everyone else!
We pumpkin eaters are in good company, like you I’d make the soup, which doesn’t require decorative carving knife skills… good thing for me. Last week we had a bit of leftover roast pumpkin which we blended with some mashed potatoes… with a lamb chop; it took me back to my childhood 🙂
My keyboard is wet from drool!!! Much love to you, Celi and to the Fellowship, Gayle
Oh, THAT photo! xxx
Good golly Miss Molly, you are looking well today! Butternut squash soup is on my cooking list for tomorrow. I can almost taste already.
What a sweet pic of Miss Molly at the end <3
That last photo is a classic!
Oh my heart! That last photo needs to be in a calendar ; )
Oh Miss Molly is definitely a calendar girl! That would be a fabulous cover shot!
The pumpkin bread recipe from Aquila is going on my list to make for Christmas gifts. And for those who need something new to do with pumpkin – pumpkin cheesecake is amazing. You should be able to find the recipe at the Kraft Foods website. If not, i’ll post it in a day or two. I go with their directions EXCEPT I increase the quantity of cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger for a little more punch. Home-made pumpkin puree is probably a little wetter than the canned variety, so perhaps let it drain a little more in cheesecloth over a bowl to dry it out a little more. I get requests for this a lot, it’s so rich that a pan of it goes a long way with a little whipped cream on top.
Wish I could send you the pumpkins languishing on steps around here.
Chris S in Canada
My chickens devour my pumpkins….they never make it to Halloween!! Hahaha Which of your animals eat the black walnuts. We have four black walnut trees…they are one hard nut to crack!!
I’m glad you’re able to save some of the pumpkins to feed your animals. They do look thankful for them. Did Tima share any with Tane?
Great photos… who knew a pig could make your heart melt? 🙂
Our jack o lanterns will dissolve in the garden and feed the mice.
Those pigs sure like those pumpkins. Just love the last pic Celi ..
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