This Year's Pumpkin Harvest

Hello friends,

Every year I make an effort to grow as many pumpkins as I can—not only for ourselves, but also for family and friends too. We're typically not big pumpkin eaters, well except for pumpkin soup. We make it up in bulk when all the ingredients for the recipe have been harvested, and include our own homegrown potatoes, onions, and garlic. Once made, we freeze our pumpkin soup away in meal-sized portions, and eat it all through autumn and winter for lunches since hubby and I both work from home.

Back in September 2022, I decided to sow baby bear and also grey crown varieties of pumpkin seeds for the upcoming growing season. The first sowing didn't germinate thanks to some dodgy seed raising mix, so I had to resow the pumpkin seeds in early October. This time all the seedlings germinated and grew up into healthy plants. In Labour weekend in October they were planted into one of our large garden beds along with corn and wheat.

This past growing season had the hottest and driest weather for us in Dunedin in many years. The pumpkin plants grew very quickly, and before Christmas had even come, the plants had already started producing fruit.

The summer months of January and February were hot and dry, and it wasn't long before the pumpkins began changing colour. I was watering the plants as often I could, but by this time our neighbourhood was under strict water restrictions.

 

In early March the pumpkin plants started dying back, and finally we had some decent rain again. It was now time for the pumpkin harvest. It was our biggest pumpkin harvest ever. Our 6 grey crown pumpkins weighed a combined total of 18 kg, and our 11 Baby Bear pumpkins came in at a combined total of 7 kg.

After setting aside pumpkins for our own use, and also for family and friends, we had 6 pumpkins left over. Luckily our neighbourhood has a very active fruit and vege produce swap group. I posted my pumpkins up on their Facebook page, and within minutes all my spare pumpkins were taken by people wanting to swap produce.

I was very soon inundated with lots of wonderful fruit we don't grow in our own fruit and vegetable garden, and in return I made new friends who left quite happily with a pumpkin or two.

One of our big gray pumpkins got given to an online friend in return for a box of quinces, and you can find the story in one of my previous blog posts, here.

I hope to share with you soon, my other adventures in processing and eating my autumnal fruit bounty.

Have a wonderful day

Julie-Ann

A Second Hand Treasure

Hello friends,

I've wanted a Le Creuset pumpkin casserole dish for a couple of years.

They are completely adorable, and are totally in line with my Cottagecore aesthetic, but I could never justify paying that much one for one, let alone the many I dreamed of having, just so I could decorate our dining room in autumn. So for the longest time my wish to own one has been in vain...

Until yesterday...when I was out shopping for my mother's birthday present, and I spotted something in a nearby secondhand hospice shop. Sitting all alone on the bottom shelf of the kitchen section, was a ceramic ware pumpkin.

I picked it up straight away, terrified that someone else would spot this treasure, and take it away from me. It was love at first sight. And before you could even blink, I was up at the counter paying a grand total of NZ$6 for the joy of taking my pumpkin home.

It didn't matter that there was a slight crack in the bottom, it was perfect just the way it was. When I arrived home and proudly showed hubby my prize, he just shook his head, probably very happy I no longer have a Le Creuset pumpkin casserole dish in my sights.

For now it sits pride of place on our dining table, and it makes me smile every time I walk past it.

Have a wonderful day

Julie-Ann