Taking Work Home

Everyone tends to have the habit of taking their work home with them. Even gardeners. The work we bring home is a little different. Today I have brought home pumpkins. I need to clean them, cook them, save the seeds and freeze the pulp.

These are some of the pumpkins I brought home; Winter Luxury (far left) is the one with the cantaloupe like webbing, Cinderella (far right), Seminole, it's the small one with the writing on it (Pat leaves me notes on produce) and Amish pie. The other small ones are some I grew in my garden at home but can't for the life of me remember the name.

Years ago I had the great idea that I would can my own pumpkin. I love making jams and jellies, pickling beets, canning fruit and making dilly beans. Pumpkin however is not a favorite for canning. As I found out it takes a pressure cooker. I have had a fear of pressure cookers ever since my Grandma's exploded all over the kitchen and I had to help clean up the mess.

So I came up with an alternative; freezing. It is so muck easier. I bake halved pumpkins, I puree, I pour into freezer bags, I freeze. Anytime I want to make a low-fat cake from a mix I pull out a bag of pumpkin, thaw it for an hour in cold water, open the bag and mix.

I use the pumpkin for pies, pancakes, Rachael Ray's Most Awesome Whoopi Pies, and cookies. I love anything pumpkin.

I save the seeds for work. We process them and then replant. We sell the extras at our seed sale. The baked rind gets put out in the compost and usually gets eaten by squirrels and raccoons. They love pumpkin too!

And the Winner Is...

Since I am a softie I decided that everyone left a comment from the original date of the post (which for some reason says October 6, it was posted on November 2)for the cookbook until today will get one. That means knownbyname, Annette, Nora, Dandelionmom, Lisa@the cutting edge of ordinary, Kitty, and Shanae will be receiving a Heritage Garden Cookbook. Just email me at bccdheritagegardens@gmail.com with your mailing address and I will send one to you.

The Heritage Garden Cookbook

This year for the Autumn Pioneer Festival the gardeners put together a cookbook of recipes that represent the 5 gardens. The recipes vary from traditional 1800's recipes to the more "modern" (up to the 1950's) old family recipes. We offered it for sale at the Harvest Table at the Autumn Pioneer Festival.

I will be giving away two copies on the blog. All you need to do is leave a comment and after a week I will pick the names of two people who left comments and announce it. You then need to e-mail me with your address and I will ship them out.
There are recipes for Lefse, hops yeast and bread made from the yeast, pemmican, drunken crumble, and preserves; 60 unusual, heritage and really good recipes.

Thank goodness for sisters!

The Pioneer Festival was great this year. Lots of people attended, the weather was great and everything went smoothly except... I didn't get any pictures. That's where my sister saves the day. She took lots of pictures and posted them to her blog;
At Home With The Farmers Wife.(Click on this link for Day one of the Festival)

She even did two days on the Festival. Check it out.

Shortbread is Yummy!

Walker Shortbread Company is now an official Sponsor of the BCCD Cultural Heritage Gardens and the Scottish Garden! Their shortbread is a personal favorite. Yummy!

Rabbits, Potato Bugs and Heat, Oh My!

We have been out in the gardens for the last two weeks fighting weather (intense heat and humidity), Potato Bugs (the Irish Lumpers are leafless)and rabbits. There is a rabbit explosion this year. Not to mention the 6 cute baby grounhogs that are roaming the Yankee Garden, the cutworms wrecking havoc on the broccoli and the mosquitos dining on the gardeners and volunteers. Just another year in the gardens
Make sure you listen to the Potato Bug song in the music player lower right side of page. It's a hoot!

Busy in the Gardens

The Heritage Gardeners have been very busy this past month. We have been planting, replanting (thanks to hungry mice eating the squash seeds) and transplanting in the greenhouse. We have been rototilling the gardens, planting the potatoes and peas and other cool weather crops. We are planting the rest of the gardens now that the frost date is past. We scramble in between rains to get plants in the ground. The mosquitos have arrived and the weeds are popping up all over.

We are also organizing Friends Of The Gardens a new group of volunteers that will work on fundraising and community outreach. We are working to develop new programs for youth and adults.

The Heritage Gardens are open for group tours starting in mid-June. Heritage Garden staff in period clothing take your group to the 5 gardens and 2 cabins while teaching about the people and plants they used in the mid 1800's in the Boone County area. If you have a group of garden friends who would like to tour the gardens and cabins please call the Boone County Conservation District offices at 815-547-7935. Cost per person is $5.00.

Tours are given to garden clubs, ethnic clubs, schools or camps, families, friends, anyone with a group of 8 or more people!
We hope to see you in the gardens!