Because yesterday afternoon was warm and sunny, Robert carved the jack o’lanterns on the deck while I cut back the caneberries. “Do you want to use any of this flesh?” he yelled. He likes to scrape the walls of the pumpkins so thin that the candlelight glows through them.
“Taste it!”
“Raw pumpkin?”
Taste it!”
It was sweet, delicious. I’d suspected would be, when I bought it at the produce market up the highway. This pumpkin was a deeper orange than the others, and heavier for its size. The cashier told me it weighed more than the much larger pumpkin I’d brought from the bin a minute earlier. This one might be tastier, too, I told her.
“You eat Halloween pumpkins?”
Usually, I explained, I put them into the compost or bury them in a raised bed. But if they are sweet and dense and not stringy, certainly I eat them. I didn’t mention the seeds, which we would roast and eat regardless, or the high price I’d be paying for compost-to-be if we didn’t eat any part of the pumpkins.
The trick-or-treating started out slow. Families in costume walked slowly by the house, gazing at the lit jack o’lanterns but not coming up the walk. During a pandemic, it’s hard to know if you’re being too presumptuous in knocking on a stranger’s door. So I made a sign—“Trick-or-Treaters Welcome”—and stuck it on a brick porch post. And the kids started coming. Each time they did, I pulled on my plague mask, a black cotton bird’s beak stuffed with tissue paper (herbs would make me sneeze), to which I’d affixed goggles cut from black felt. While Robert pulled open the door, I extended the broomstick to which he had hung a basket, now filled with candy.
Between trick-or-treating groups, we munched roasted pumpkin seeds and I checked the big pot full of pumpkin flesh on the stove. I let the cooking finish with the lid off, so excess water would steam away.
This morning I pressed the cooked pumpkin through the food mill, but that turned out to be an unnecessary step: The flesh was string-free. But now it was a fine purée, ready for a pie—except that it was still pretty watery. I could freeze it as it was and use it for soup, but I had pie on my mind. So I dumped the purée into a fine strainer, and waited a few minutes before packing the purée into freezer containers. I was about to pour the pumpkin water into the compost, but then I tasted it. It wasn’t just water. It was orange and sweet and tasty. It went into the fridge to await its future in a soup or stew.
Robert brought in the little jack o’lantern and took over at the butcher block. He is cutting away the peel, slicing the flesh into chunks, and filling the big pot again. We will have plenty of pumpkin for pie—not butternut or kabocha but genuine jack o’lantern pumpkin, pumpkin that did its duty on an old-fashioned Halloween night.
We grow a lovely little pumpkin called Winter Luxury. I bake it instead of boiling it. Because I’m lazy. After baking, I peel and make pumpkin bars, pumpkin pie, pumpkin soup, and pumpkin cheesecake. I love pumpkin!
Some years we carve lightly into them during the growing season.
They heal over and you can read the writing!
Holly, do you think that kind of carving could be a good alternative for Halloween? It would certainly help in avoiding waste.
HELLO.
IVE GOT A.BOOK ON APPLES.PEARS.AMD AND QUINCES..
ITS.DATED WORLD.WAR TWO .
There are two volumes.
It has information in it…also in.the nazis stealing.Ir ruining fruit orchards in.World.war.two.
Im.comcermed..
In World.war.two Britain there were 30,.40.or.50 different types of apples.
1940s….
In 2024 as.i write this there are only two or three varieties of apple.on sale.in my area of Britain..
I NEVER EVEN SAW A FRUIT NAMED QUINCES ALL MY LIFE..never even heard the word Quince …until I found the book..
Do You have any Quince seeds for sale or to send to me?
MISSING.VARIETIES OF APPLES.
Are.you the Last Quince Orchard ?
In England there is a patch of land
With trees, it was left in a will to.the People.of Southampton with the stipulation that there always be.a.sheep pen on it…
ITS THE ONLY BIG BIT OF LAND
WITH A DUCK POND.OM IT…that the government don’t own….in my town.
SO.NO ONE.CAN BUILD ON IT..
Southampton Common..the sheep pen is still there, but.Someone.turmed.it.imto a two.meter.squate (approx size) with no sheep on it. POOR.people.can sleep there or light a.fire.in a public space.
Perhaps.The.British House.of.commons was named after.the areas.of.Land.Knowm.as.the.Commoms?
Are.you the last quince.orchard?
I’ve just searched online
FOR.THE book ned.apples.pears.and quimces printed in Britain in World.war.two…but.its.NO longer on sale by amazon.in.2024.. It was on.sale.in 2020.approx.
IT.says.the.german nazis.wemt.imto.other.coumtries and stole an almond.farm…it.names.ome.coumtry.
I’d really like.To.BUY some.quimce.seeds…
And.I.urge you to protect your orchard for generations to.come.
Perhaps by putting your orchard in.a.trust or.writimg A.WILL
Legally.
I think preserving seeds
And selling baby grown quince.trees.
Might be a national.emergemcy.
People.domt.know.the Name.really in Britain..
Where are YOU?.
Contact. me.
Larkingaboutinthesunshine@gmail.com.
Seeds.may be a.world.wide emergency 2024.
IF.YOU.An sell.quimce seeds
Or.semd.them.to me or.prrserve your quince.orchard or.sell baby quince.trees that would be great..
You.Might leave your orchard to the People.of.your town ..with the stipulation to.always have quince.trees.on it…and.Ever peit.any to be cut.down.or.mowed….
Or.ask.God to help You preserve what may be the last quince tree/ trees in the world??? Maybe.There are.more.
But.Ive.not.got.an orchard.map.of.the world.