We harvested all our winter squash this week. There’s one missing from the wagon, a blue hubbard squash. The haul isn’t as good as some years, but it’s way better than last year.
Candy roasters did the best for us. If you’re not familiar with them, they are the long banana shaped squash and are similar in taste to pumpkins but better in my opinion.
We planted small pie pumpkins and only ended up with two, one of which is very small.
A few butternuts and a few cushaws round out the wagon. The small white squash is one we’ve never grown before called Mashed Potato. Katie got the seeds for us. I’ve yet to cook one but am anxious to try them.
We enjoy the taste of winter squash. I roast them, make soup with them, and of course make tasty pies, breads, and cakes.
One of my favorite things about growing winter squash is the ease of putting them up for future use.
Once pulled from the garden we dust them off and transfer them to the front porch where they stay until true cold weather arrives. Their next home is the walls of my kitchen. I sit them here and there and they stay until I’m ready to cook one.
You have to keep a good eye on them using this process. Sometimes one will begin to decay and I either cook it or process and put in the freezer. But most of the time a fully developed winter squash will last till warm weather returns.
It’s not uncommon to have one or two winter squash still sitting in my kitchen when spring of the year comes around and I’m looking forward to planting the garden again.
Last night’s video: Late Summer Supper: Butterbeans and Peas, Fried Okra, Tomatoes, Pickled Beets, & Cornbread.
Tipper
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Looks like a beautiful harvest! A bountiful blessing!
That’s a beautiful harvest! I love candy roasters and enjoy making the cookie recipe you shared a few years ago.
This year we grew Delicata squash. I like them because the skin is so tender that it doesn’t have to be peeled. I cut them into small pieces, add salt, pepper, and fresh rosemary then roast them in olive oil.
Plenty or few, they will all taste good over the next months. I love most squashes – but I don’t care for spaghetti squash – I find it too bland/moist – do you grow that one Tipper, and if so, how do you cook it? I don’t care for pumpkin squash either unless it is made into a pie. 🙂
We don’t grow that one but I’ve heard lots of folks say they use it like pasta 🙂
Good morning Tipper! With all the rain we’ve had this summer (Alberta), and cool temperatures, our garden didn’t do as well as I’d hoped. The butternut squash is very small, and won’t have time to mature on the vine. I had to re-plant the zucchini 3 times to get only 3 plants. The only thing that did well was my swiss chard. So..all summer I’ve been dreaming about my next year’s garden! Your squash looks amazing Tipper! Through your Chanel I learned about Matt’s favorite Cherokee purple tomato which I ordered the seeds from Amazon. They are my favorite as well! They’re so good. Now maybe I’ll have to see if I can order candy roasters, I’m not sure if they will grow, but I can try! Have a great day everyone!
Dear Tipper,
I hope you’re feeling 100% better by now. I have to agree with Allie. I think your garden pictures of the bounty of vegetables would make a beautiful calendar and also all your flowers can make another year calendar and then you could just keep going on with Mountain Views and everything else. Happy Labor Day to you and Matt! And may God bless us all! Love, Esme♥️
Gandering at a little red wagon chock full of tasty and hardy beta carotene laden country goodness is a very excellent way to start my day! My eyes are enjoying the colorful and shapely bounty indeed! I’m excited about the orange round and oblong “things” I have harvested. I planted them close to crook neck squash and they may be squash/ ghourds as opposed to ghourds alone. I’ve got a dandy big pumpkin vine but there’s nothing on there but pretty blooms. But I watch the bumble bees covered in yellow pollen and chickens hiding and playing in those vines so there’s a lot to see. I’ve got bottleneck ghourds as big as can be and I’m excited about them, but they are still green. I think gardening gives me a reason to keep going and trying. Sometimes there’s success and sometimes failure and sometimes pride and disappointment in gardening. I think it’s good for the soul, body, mind and ego… it keeps us in touch with life. God bless you all and may you have a day of peace and joy in Jesus who holds it all together…
Your sentiments about gardening are so well put, Sadie! Thank you for sharing with us.
The thing to remember with pumpkins especially, but with all squashes with large-enough seeds (like butternut squash), that beyond a sufficient number to plant for the following growing season, you can roast the seeds with a little garlic powder and paprika (there’s plenty of recipes online, and the spice mix may differ but they’re all going to be good). They’re called “pepitas” and they’re good served as a snack or as a salad topping.
I grew up eating cushaws, and I still love them today. Mom mostly fried them with some added sugar, a real treat in the dead of winter. She dried them in chunks that hung on a string right beside the shuck beans. I have asked all my older cousins if they remember how the cushaws were dried that made them so sweet and chewy, but they don’t recall anything special. They tasted different than when prepared any other way, similar to the dried mangoes or fruit candy we can purchase in the stores today. I planted candy roasters for the first time and had six big, beautiful squash I admired daily. The deer left me one, the smallest of the bunch. I will save seeds from it and try again next year behind a secure fence.
Beautiful! I would buy that calendar Allie suggested ! 🙂 Love & prayers for all !
What a pretty picture!! I know they will be delicious!!
Nice haul of winter squash.
What a beautiful haul and image. You could make and sell a calendar with your beautiful garden imagery, Tipper. I love growing winter squash! My absolute favorite variety is buttercup. I roast most of the squash and freeze it in ziploc pint sized bags for use over the winter. It is so delicious and nourishing! Last year we ran out of room in our big garden for all the squash we wanted to grow. We had a spot in our yard near the garden where a pile of compost had been from the year before. The grass hadn’t fully reclaimed that area yet and I knew the soil would be fertile there from the time the compost sat as we spread it around, so I tried sowing some squash seed there. We ended up with a huge harvest! By the end of the growing season, the grass had grown up around the squash and the vines were so tangled with the grass, that I didn’t even realize how much squash we had under there until we started harvesting. It felt like digging for gold to find squash after squash hiding out underneath that mess. It’s amazing what can grow even amongst weeds.
Your harvest of winter squashes look great. You’ve grown bigger ones in the past that I recall seeing on your post, but still these are really nice sizes. My husband or daughter doesn’t like any type of squashes. I never tried growing any types of squash except summer yellow squash, zucchini or pumpkin. He wouldn’t eat them. I even tried chopping them up real fine to put in my pasta sauce and soups. He never noticed until he heard me telling a church friend that’s what I did. He was very upset with me over the fact that I had put any kind of squash in his food he said I had decided him. I apologized and have never done it since. That’s why I don’t even grow them anymore. If I get a taste for squash of any kind I either buy a small one at the store to fix for myself or order some at a local restaurant if they have any on the menu. Be thankful Matt and your girls enjoy all varieties of squash like you do. It really is a blessing.
My hubby doesn’t like sweet potatoes. I slice one up and add it to his big pan of fried white potatoes, along with sliced hot peppers, and he doesn’t mind at all. I just tell him it’s healthy. .
My Grandma grew cushaws. But they are a rare sight nowadays. That keeping all winter was a very good thing back in the old days when something fresh in the depths of winter was a treat. Guess most of us are spoile more than we realize. I had to smile about your setting your winter squash around the kitchen – decoration and food all in one. This month Stayman Winesap apples will have their first picking. I think about all our thoughts here have turned, or are turning, to fall. And I think most people are ready for the change. We have a hawk entertaining us this morning. He or she seems taken with our yard and is checking it out thoroughly. Now if it would scare away the crittes that have eaten my corn the last two years …
Ron—We had a hawk flying over and all around our yard yesterday. Its screeching was quite loud. This morning, we noticed a big squirrels nest in our front yard looks like it has been messed with and is hanging down. Maybe the hawk, or possibly an owl we have seen lately, decided to hunt for food in our trees. We are overrun with squirrels this year.
The squash looks so pretty in your wagon!
How wonderful! Those are beautiful and will be so tasty!
Praying for everyone and thanking you for your prayers!
I enjoy reading everyone’s comments about the garden. This is fun!
They will be so tasty! I love to make squash soup. I add a couple of apples for sweetness. So good!
Good eating! We have been blessed this year also.