4th week of September 2009
After several glorious fall weeks, a cold front arrived making for a dreary, drizzly stretch. Fortunately, just before the rain arrived, the pictured bride along with some friends were able to pick buckets full of flowers for her wedding. The drizzle began shortly after they finished and although the plans for an outdoor wedding had to be scrapped, I heard that the flowers helped bring the "outdoors" to the indoor setting. The sunny yellow flowers are from Jerusalem artichoke plants which are 8-10 feet tall right now. We had to bend them over so we could cut them! They also picked abundant red zinnias, the second wave of snapdragons, purple salvia, mini Susies and one friend had fun picking weeds to add to the mix.
One crop in great abundance this year is butternut squash. I haven't made an official count like one of my friends who tallied 181 butternuts from her garden, but there are well over a hundred in our patch. Fortunately, butternut is our family's favorite squash and we use it in many forms. I often cut it in half to bake for an hour and then one half is used as a side dish with our meal and the second half is scooped out to use in a pumpkin recipe. Tonight our squash menu included spaghetti squash with meat sauce and a butternut that was made into my grandma Gerber's pumpkin pudding which is basically pumpkin pie without the crust. I often whirl all the ingredients in the blender which helps smooth up the squash. The recipe is:
- 3 cups cooked pumpkin or butternut
- 4 cups milk
- 1/4 cup honey or molasses (or 1/2 cup sugar)
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1 T. cinnamon
It bakes for 45 minutes at 350 into a nice custard. We look forward to more of this all winter long.
We had a delightful evening with the cold frame seminar at my Amish friends' home. They invited 18 relative and friends of all ages and it was especially humorous to have older Amish men and women tasting edible flowers and "new" salad greens. One gentleman was instantly hooked on bok choy and an older lady loved the arugula and wanted to figure out how to grow these things in her flowerbed. The hosts suggested that I need to do seminars like this in more Amish homes all over Holmes County. I may have found myself a job for the next few years! Actually, a learning seminar is a wonderful alternative to hosting a Tupperware or candle party and I've listed more seminar options under Events that I can offer to a group in your home.
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