Long Island Cheese Pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata)

When Antonia was a wee little girl and “making things from scratch” became a very high priority in my kitchen, San Francisco hippie woman that I was, I decided that November was Master Pie Crust month. And I made pie crusts over and over until I could make one half asleep in minutes. That little game I played with myself has served me for decades. And apparently this fall has been All About Pumpkins and I am learning as much as I can. And the most important discovery I have made, as someone who has wanted the perfect Pumpkin Soup Recipe for years, is that the secret is not the recipe. The secret is the kind of pumpkin. Who knew? And what I have learned through all these weeks of pumpkin and winter squash learning and sharing is that the very best pumpkin to use for pumpkin soup bears the unlikely name Long Island Cheese Pumpkin, an heirloom variety, which supposedly is/was commonly grown on Long Island. (Would love to hear the stories, if you know them!) As I don’t recall ever seeing a Long Island Cheese Pumpkin in any kind of store, ever, nor had I ever heard of one before this summer, I’m not too sure how likely it will be that you can find one, other than at your local farmer’s markets. You may have to grow one. I have poked around and I think you will have no trouble finding the heirloom seeds. I’m partial to all things Baker Creek Seed Company, so here’s their link. Plan early! And, boy, are you gonna be glad!

So, first I’m going to post a refresher course on how to easily make pumpkin puree, and then I’m going to show you how to make fabulous pumpkin soup in, oh, say, five minutes. Really.

First you grab an apple corer and poke two holes in the top of your pumpkin. Place in a large pot of water. Let the water come to a soft boil and cook until a fork is readily able to pierce your pumpkin. Then, flip it so the top is also cooked thoroughly. (This is the only tricky part of this process. You might ask someone to hold the pot in place while you turn over the pumpkin.) This won’t take long.

Once the pumpkin is cooked, pour off the water. Then simply cut it across twice. [Please excuse this slightly out of focus pic! I promise to replace next time I make this, which will be soon!] Let it cool.

Once the pumpkin is cool, peel off the skin, which you will discover is very intact and readily peels off. It’s not like what you are expecting. And recycle the seeds. This is what you will have. Look at this color!! I think this is Food at Its Best. It just screams I Am So Good For You! And it is utterly delicious.

Then put the flesh in batches into your food processer and puree. Look at this rich spun gold! I’m rather astounded this is the color of what emerges inside a Long Island Cheese Pumpkin. But that’s what you get! #LOVE

Now. What I do is measure out the puree into portions of 2 cups and freeze what I’m not going to yet use. I feel fantastic knowing I have this on hand in my freezer for winter, for soups and pies and breads. I set aside two cups for my easy soup recipe.

I don’t know about you, but I am so busy that finding time to cook is a bit of an effort sometimes. I really like having certain things prepared and on hand at any given moment. On that list are fresh scones in the freezer, cold green tea, rice for the doggies, some form of salad all made up (e.g., cole slaw or grated dressed beets) and, hopefully, at this time of year, a yummy soup. So this fits the bill.

I poured some olive oil in a heavy pan, and sauteed half an onion and two cloves of garlic I had processed beforehand in the Cuisinart. I made a point of cooking the onion slowly and thoroughly. Then I added two cups of free range chicken broth. (I cheated because this is an Easy Recipe and “easy” in this case means chicken broth from the health food store.) I let that heat up a bit, and then poured in the two cups of pumpkin puree. Like this.

I added salt and white pepper to taste. And then I added a cup of cream. And I served this delicious, simple, nutritious soup with sour dough bread and a glass of green tea. What a fantastic cold weather luncheon! This soup would also make a wonderful starter course for Thanksgiving or Christmas that would not require much time! I think I’d add a dollop of sour cream or perhaps some chopped parsley or scallions for the holidays before serving, wouldn’t you?

And I will store the balance of the soup knowing There Is Soup in the frig, a comforting thought. You know? Yes, you do.

Love and kitchen blessings,
Kathryn xoxoxo

Book News: Western North Carolina Woman has just published an excerpt from Plant Whatever Brings You Joy here. If you visiting this blog from the beautiful NC mountains, you might appreciate knowing that Malaprop’s has copies of my book! Also, a wonderful review of Plant Whatever Brings You Joy has just been published on Examiner.com.
As you are planning Christmas giving, remember that you may order copies of Plant Whatever Brings You Joy directly from Estrella Catarina, and that shipping is free, as is giftwrapping!

Posted on November 5th, 2012 by Kathryn
Filed under: Plants | 18 Comments »

Happiest fall greetings and welcome to Plant Whatever Brings You Joy (and a fresh new look!).

As promised I’m going to continue sharing the wealth of information I gathered from Anne, whom I met at the farmer’s market, who has a wonderful organic farm in Mendocino County. I was just astounded that she knows so much about pumpkins and squashes. Her love for these vegetables and the magic they hold is palpable!

In my last post I focused on the various pumpkins I learned about. This post is devoted to some of the abundant winter squashes available to us only at this precious time of year. I particularly love that these vegetables have been woven so beautifully into the tapestry of our winter holidays. They also continue to offer inspiration for a variety of winter soups that nurture us as the days grow longer and the nights grow colder.

Baby Blue Hubbard Squash (Cucurbita maxima)

This is a smaller version of a standard Blue Hubbard, producing fruits about 5-7 pounds. It has a smooth, gray-blue skin and a sweeter flesh than the standard Blue Hubbard. Reputedly this is the preferred squash of the cucumber beetle, so one might consider growing (off to one side??) to distract the little buggers from your other squashes! (Just sayin’…)

Kabocha (Japanese: カボチャ, 南瓜)

Kabocha squash received a lot of attention on Plant Whatever Brings You Joy, in my Squasharama post written nearly four years ago (!) and I refer you back to it for more extended information about kabocha, including a baked custard recipe. It has an exceptional naturally sweet flavor, even sweeter than butternut squash. It is similar in texture and flavor to a pumpkin and a sweet potato combined. I’m looking forward to baking the one I just purchased. It’s a very substantial squash.

Crown Pumpkin

I actually included the Crown Pumpkin in my recent pumpkin post, but I’m going to include again here, as it actually is a winter squash. Crown Pumpkin is a delicious winter squash with a hard blue-grey skin and rich orange flesh.

The Cucurbita family houses the pumpkin, the gourd and the squash, and has sub-categories called the Cucurbita moschata, Cucurbita maxima and the Cucurbita pepo.Pumpkins are usually recognized as being the pepo. The stems are woody and the skin is hard and orange. The maxima species is slightly different from the pepo species in that it is less hardy when compared to a Jack-o-Lantern.

Burgess Buttercup

Burgess Buttercup produces smallish 3-5 pound dark green fruits with orange flesh, which is fiberless. The flavor is reminiscent of sweet potato. It can be baked or steamed, then combined with butter and fresh herbs. It stores well.

Blacktail Mountain Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus)

Yes, just as watermelon season was closing, there was Anne selling this intriguing Blacktail Mountain watermelon. I couldn’t not give it a try, right? The fruit is solid dark green and has an orange-red flesh. Ann says the fruits are generally 6-10 poinds and 8″ across. Vines reach 10 feet. Once harvested it will keep up to two months. Good to know.

I hope you have enjoyed the pumpkin/squash journey. Thank you for taking it with me. As winter approaches and you begin planning your next garden, I hope you will be inspired to try some of the veggies I have introduced.

Thank you for the visit!

Love and garden blessings,
Kathryn xoxo

Book News: OdeWire has just published another excerpt from Plant Whatever Brings You Joy, the chapter/lesson titles “Invest in Trees.” It’s a perfect story for October. And if you have not yet visited the book trailer for Plant Whatever Brings You Joy, I invite you to take a peek!

Posted on October 9th, 2012 by Kathryn
Filed under: Plants | 10 Comments »

A fair (archaic: fayre) is a gathering of people to display or trade produce or other goods, to parade or display animals and often to enjoy associated carnival or funfair entertainment.

Strangely, in spite of putting up posters, tweeting and Facebooking the Heirloom Expo in Santa Rosa, perhaps due to their midweek scheduling, I passed up the opportunity to head south, and instead opted for going over the hill to the local county fair. I wanted to experience a real county fair, replete with corndogs, and cotton candy, (not that I would actually eat any of it), blue ribbons and apples pies. Probably the biggest draw, however, was knowing there was a Border Collie trial going on and I had not been in some years. So off I went in the early morning sun through the woods and into the tiny town of Boonville (and all that name engenders). I somehow had not anticipated that Parking Was an Issue, and opted not to view it as such, merely as a small challenge, and opportunity, to look up and down all the side streets I’m normally too busy to venture down, until I encountered a small road several blocks from the fairgrounds. I drove to the very end where a Hispanic woman was chatting in her small garden, abundantly blessed with enormous dahlias, and parked off the road. It didn’t take too very long to walk back to the fairgrounds, and I happily snapped this wayward trumpet vine on my way.

Boonville is situated in Anderson Valley, the heart of winecountry. It is a mix of salt of the Earth folk, winegrowers, applegrowers, many Hispanics probably drawn to winery work (guessing) and a small tourist industry, as people must pass through Boonville to get to the coast, where tourists increasingly abound. It is very quiet and one is not allowed to go faster than 30 mph. Let’s just say it has a lot of character.

The finding of the parking spot ate into my dogtrial time, so I arrived when there were only two more dogs to run. If you’ve never been to a Border Collie trial, go here.

Sheep waiting for dog trial
What ensued when the next dog up was set to begin I’ve never seen before. The handler lost control of the dog. The sheep people lost control of the sheep. And the dog set upon two of them, nipping at their chests. I guess it happens, but it was a new experience for me, and rather disconcerting.

The last dog was also a surprise. He and the sheep were deadlocked in moving them through the various gates so it was like watching a sheepdog trial in slow motion.

I decided I’d not come for the dog trials afterall, and allowed myself to be swept into the crowds and see what else the fair held for me.

Within minutes I found myself standing before the merry-go-round, instantly enchanted.

I next entered a large building where farmers had been displaying their vegetables and fruits and awards had been given. It was fun to see red and blue ribbons on their displays, knowing they must have been very proud of their hard work.

squashes

pears

gourds

And then there were the apples! What do you think of this arrangement? I honestly have a mixed reaction. Part of me is in awe of the work that went into this creation. I am made keenly aware of the industrialization of our food production, which is both admirable and somewhat jarring. We have learned to feed large numbers of people. A Good Thing. And now it seems we’d best retrace our steps and examine those very practices to ensure our own health. Ironic, right?

Elkanah Watson, a New England patriot and farmer, earned the title, “Father of US agricultural fairs” by organizing the Berkshire Agricultural Society and creating an event (known then as a Cattle Show) in Pittsfield, Massachusetts in September 1811. It was more than just an exhibit of animals – it was a competition, with prize money ($70) paid for the best exhibits of oxen, cattle, swine and sheep. Watson worked diligently for many years helping communities organize their own agricultural societies and their respective shows (fairs). By 1819 most counties in New England had organized their own agricultural societies and the movement was spreading into the other states. The nineteenth century closed with almost every state and province having one or more agricultural fair or exhibition.

In addition to the fruits and vegetables on display, along the sides of the room were various displays, some with historical interests. I loved the wheel. It made me wonder where it had been, what stories it might tell. I’m sure they are work stories.

And this wagon surely has been privy to many conversations.

This sign caught my attention. These are not women I know. But I found myself wondering about them. I might look them up!

And in the far corner were the Master Gardeners. As it happened they needed a shot of their display, so I happily obliged. I spent some time talking to them and discovered a new Master Gardener program is starting up in winter, very conveniently not so far away. I decided this was why I’d really come to the fair. Thank you, Inner Guidance.

I left this building, then, and wandered over to the Wool Barn. I’d never been to this kind of event before. This angora rabbit immediately caught my attention, as he was being shorn! I talked with the man cutting his fur and learned that angora also comes from goats. Maybe you knew that?

There were tables laden with kinds of wool.

And stalls full of incredibly beautiful yarns. I could see there must be women (or men?) who just live for this, to secure these beautiful materials for their winter creations. A winter of weaving, of knitting, of crocheting. It’s lovely to contemplate.

I was not drawn to purchasing yarns, but I certainly was drawn to buying this beautiful green wool hat, which came up from Morro Bay! I am very much looking forward to wearing it soon as mornings inevitably become quite chilly!

American, Canadian, and UK readers: to find a fair in your state, check out this link! http://www.fairseverywhere.com/

I find myself wondering if county fairs are on the wane, or will always be a mainstay of our lives. I believe they will increasingly be venues where we might examine how we are conducting our food production, and how we might aim ourselves for more sustainable living. Do you attend your local county fairs? What changes have you seen and how might what you have learned impact their evolution?

Love and gardening blessings,
Kathryn xoxo
Footnote: Since posting this blog post I have crossed paths with three women who were in full attendance at the dog trials and every one of them said the same thing: “It was the sheep!” Apparently what I missed in arriving late was that not a single dog was able to maneuver the sheep through the various gates or pens. These sheep had had no experience with being herded and they cooperated with not even the most skilled of dogs! Bet I’ll be hearing more about this.

Book News: Please watch for upcoming review of Plant Whatever Brings You Joy on examiner.com and an excerpt from my book in the winter issue of The Intelligent Optimist (formerly known as Ode Magazine).

The list of bookstores carrying Plant Whatever Brings You Joy continues to grow! If you do not see a bookstore near you please consider purchasing directly. Priority shipping within US is free, as is giftwrapping!

Posted on September 17th, 2012 by Kathryn
Filed under: Field Trips | 6 Comments »

Antonia and Kathryn, Mother and Daughter series

Dearest Readers:

Following is an excerpt from my book Plant Whatever Brings You Joy: Blessed Wisdom from the Garden, which recently ran on OdeWire.com. I felt this selection was timely given the current conversation around the country. Enjoy.

Near as I can tell life on planet Earth is mostly about taking care. Taking care of our families. Taking care of our friends. Taking care of the work that we take responsibility for. Taking care of our homes, taking care of our possessions, our animals, our gardens, our plants, our cars, our water, our air, our land. Our churches, our communities, our cities, our roads, our poor, our sick, our wounded, our frail and elderly.

Taking care of ourselves. Taking care of ourselves physically. Taking care of ourselves mentally. Taking care of ourselves emotionally. And taking care of ourselves spiritually. Yep, I’d say that pretty much covers life on our planet for we human beings, and it certainly reflects my experience!

Now how we go about that is endless in its possibilities. As varied as the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the plants in the forest. And notice they are all taking care as well.

If I ask myself what is the central principle behind this endless and perpetual taking care, I’d have to say life itself. Life reaching towards life. Life ensuring life continues. That essentially is the drive behind it all, is it not? Each and every living thing on planet Earth is hardwired for doing well, for keeping the whole thing going, for perpetuating life. The lengths various species go to ensure their sticking around boggles the mind. As we are caught up in our own individual dramas and the illusions (and grandeurs) of our sense of separation, it is easy (and convenient) to forget what the essential driving force behind all this is. Truly there are beings walking planet Earth thinking it was about them. “What? It’s not about me?” Well, it is. You and over six billion other people and a several billion other species. It is humbling to contemplate when we take the time. And the distorted ways in which some of us choose to take care of ourselves and others are absolute abominations, there is no doubt. But often underneath the aberration one could find this slender thread of life’s longing at the core, hard as that might seem. What would our lives look like if we consciously brought the value of taking care, of nurturing to the fore? How would aligning ourselves with that single focus impact our lives and the lives of others? If we acknowledged fully our intrinsic programming to care and nurture for all that came within our view, our path, our neighborhood, our own small radar, what impact would that accumulative shift have on our larger reality? Jesus said to love one another. Was that not the same?

Love and earthly blessings,
Kathryn xoxo

Book News: It’s been an awesome month of discovery! Recently I found two wonderful reviews of Plant Whatever Brings You Joy I had not previously known about. (Thank you, Google.) The first was a review written and published in Telluride Watch by Daiva Chesonis, owner of Between the Covers bookstore in Telluride, Colorado. Here it is:

Plant Whatever Brings You Joy: Blessed Wisdom from the Garden (Estrella Catarina, 2010) by Kathryn Hall

This Northern California-based author called us to see if we’d like to carry her self-published book. As an independent bookstore, we try to support as many writers as possible across the spectrum of first-timer to been-there. We talked about why her book is unique amidst all the others. The garden as a metaphor is by no means a new literary concept but this is a fabulous packaging of that idea. This gardening blogger and book publicist has mashed up the sentiment of gardening into the reality of life (which means it gets shelved in several sections of the store). Thematic titles abound: Appreciate Small Returns, Move Gently Among the Bees, Reframe All Error as Learning, and Clean Up After a Storm. Fiercely Guard the Seedlings is a sweet paralleling about children. The format—52 lessons through 52 stories—lends itself to a once-a-week devotional. At three to five pages each, they’re easy to fit in as a quick grounding. But don’t just take our word for it; there’s a blurb from the cultural anthropologist who wrote The Second Half of Life [Ed.: Angeles Arrien] that heralds Plant Whatever Brings You Joy as an “invaluable resource for understanding the garden as a source of healing, growth, solace, joy, wisdom and inspiration.” This small book is proof again that what we all really need, we probably already have or have access to, whether that’s proper gardening tools or the therapy that pulling weeds, helping things bloom, and indigenous wisdom can mete out.

And, then, happily, I found this review, featuring Plant Whatever Brings You Joy as Book of the Month, this month, in the Master Gardening newsletter at UC California at Davis!

Posted on August 21st, 2012 by Kathryn
Filed under: Excerpts from Plant Whatever Brings You Joy | 2 Comments »

Melissa Officinalis

I continue to be fascinated not just with herbs, but with herbs that have been used by human beings for thousands of years. Lemon balm, or, formally, melissa officinalis, falls in that category. I think I first became aware of lemon balm through my dear friend Conny, who is German, and, apparently, lemon balm is much more common in Germany than it is here. The Germans make a lemon balm salve which I am now longing to have in my store of medicinal herbs, and I might have to resort to making my own, most likely with a bit of guidance from Henriette Kress’s book Practical Herbs, which you are probably aware I recently reviewed. (She teaches you All Things Herbal!)

I think, in fact, that Conny once sent me home with a bag of dried lemon balm herbs she kindly picked from her garden, and I must confess I was not quite sure what to do with them, and so I did nothing whatsoever. This happens to all of us with new herbs, I think, and rightly so. There is an intrinsic wisdom in not blithely using herbs, but in researching, studying and when we feel we have sufficient information to be confident in our knowledge of the herb, begin to use. Some of them thus will end up being lifelong companions for which we are eternally grateful. I’m approaching that point with lemon balm, so I will share with you how far along I am in my knowledge and perhaps some of you will be moved to join me in its usage.

Years after the gifting of the bag of lemon balm which sat on a shelf for a long long time, unused, I at last found myself foraging herbs in a big box store and found some lemon balm in small containers. I bought two. One ended up in a big pot. It seemed like the right thing to do. The other, rather sadly, did not get transplanted for quite some time. (Don’t ask. This happens. I’m busy.) But one morning it was at last put in a small pot, which was better than its original container, which it did outgrow, poor thing. And I will depart from the point of this post to point out blatantly to what happens when you put a living being (plant, animal or human, take your pick) and put in a confining space:

And what happens to a living being (plant, animal or human) if you put it in a spacious environment with ample room for spreading wings, branches, mind and heart:

Given that I think metaphorically and have based an entire book on using gardening as a metaphor for life, this is the pictorial version, and need I say more? I think not.

So that happened.

But what to actually do with it?

The overwhelming and predominant usage of lemon balm which I read over and over again in multiple sources was to simply make a tea of it and that it was associated with relaxation. Perfect. I was actually needing something refreshing to drink in the summer evenings, after a hot day. I always have black tea for breakfast, green tea for lunch and I did not want caffeine in the evening, and, while water is nice sometimes, I found I was lacking a cooling drink to have with my light supper. As it turns out lemon balm fills this need quite beautifully. So here’s what I did. I bought a large glass jar to make sun tea, which I had not done in ages. I’m not sure why as it used to be a habit, but one that got misplaced over the years. I used two quarts of water and picked enough leaves from the larger plant that I felt I would have a lovely tea. And I placed in the hot sun in the garden all day long.

The sheer act of doing this was enormously satisfying. I’m very happy I’ve resumed this lovely tradition. And in the evening I brought in the jar, feeling I had something so precious made in the hot summer sun, and added a bit of honey, and then strained it, put in a pitcher and let it cool overnight. The next afternoon I enjoyed the simple pleasure of a chilled glass of lemon balm tea. What a joy!
I am abundantly glad I tried this and to have now added cold lemon balm tea as a standard in my summer kitchen. I especially appreciate that given its relaxing qualities (not unlike chamomile) the tea begins to prepare me for a good night’s sleep. In addition lemon balm aids digestion, adding to its being a good choice for the last meal of the day. I do hope you will try and enjoy.

Love and herbal blessings,
Kathryn xoxo
Footnote: One of the UK gardening bloggers left a comment on FB about this post reminding me it’s way too rainy in the UK at the moment to make suntea. Don’t hesitate to make a hot cup of tea with the lemon balm leaves from your garden. It’s very delicious!

Book News: Highlight of the week was unexpectedly finding a review of Plant Whatever Brings You Joy through a random google search in Telluride, Colorado’s local newspaper The Watch! From that review:

The garden as a metaphor is by no means a new literary concept but this is a fabulous packaging of that idea. This gardening blogger and book publicist has mashed up the sentiment of gardening into the reality of life (which means it gets shelved in several sections of the store). Thematic titles abound: Appreciate Small Returns, Move Gently Among the Bees, Reframe All Error as Learning, and Clean Up After a Storm. Fiercely Guard the Seedlings is a sweet paralleling about children. The format—52 lessons through 52 stories—lends itself to a once-a-week devotional. At three to five pages each, they’re easy to fit in as a quick grounding. But don’t just take our word for it; there’s a blurb from the cultural anthropologist who wrote “The Second Half of Life” that heralds “Plant Whatever Brings You Joy” as an “invaluable resource for understanding the garden as a source of healing, growth, solace, joy, wisdom and inspiration.” This small book is proof again that what we all really need, we probably already have or have access to, whether that’s proper gardening tools or the therapy that pulling weeds, helping things bloom, and indigenous wisdom can mete out.

Meanwhile, I’ve been continuing to collect pics of my book on indie bookstore shelves around the country and posting them in a photo album on my new Facebook fan page, quite gratifying, I have to say.

Posted on July 17th, 2012 by Kathryn
Filed under: Plants | 9 Comments »