Our last big crop of the season is squash & pumpkins. Most of them are now in bins in the barn & ready for selling – and eating!
This year we grew about 30 varieties of squash & pumpkins. We choose as many colours & shapes as possible to make for an eye-catching display at market. And of course flavour is very important! There isn’t enough space on our farm to grow a lot of any of these – just enough for CSA & our farmers’ markets.
Here are pictures & descriptions of most of them. (The same gourds are in each picture to give some idea of the relative size of each squash.)
Butternut – everyone’s favourite squash. Rich orange flesh with a nutty flavour. We grew 5 different kinds of butternut – various sizes.
Black Futsu -bright orange flesh with the flavour of hazelnuts.
Sunshine – a beautiful, bright orange squash (inside & out) with a sweet & somewhat dry texture. Sunshine are great for pies, baking & mashing.
Blue Hubbard (heirloom) – an old variety that is large, yellow-fleshed, somewhat dry, and not too sweet.
Thelma Sanders Sweet Potato (heirloom) – a small, sweet, tasty, acorn squash.
Jarrahdale (heirloom) – a beautiful, slate-grey, high quality, delicious pumpkin.
Long Island Cheese (heirloom) – tasty pumpkin that looks like a wheel of cheese.
Boston Marrow (heirloom) – large, dry & sweet, with good flavour.
North Georgia Candy Roaster (heirloom) – a long, banana shaped squash with sweet, orange flesh.
Moranga (heirloom) – a pink to salmon coloured squash from Brazil used to make a traditional “camaraona moranga” or shrimp in a squash.
Tetsukabuto – deep yellow flesh with a sweet, nutty flavour & smooth texture.
Stripetti – a spaghetti/sweet potato cross. The flesh is stringy like spaghetti! More flavour than a plain spaghetti squash.
Australian Butter (heirloom) – beautiful, peach coloured squash from Australia with good flavour.
Musquee de Provence (French heirloom) – The flesh is deep orange, rich & moderately sweet. The outside turns a rich brown colour as it ages.
Red Warty Thing or Victor (heirloom) – gorgeous, red-orange, large squash covered in bumps.
Galeux d’Eysines (heirloom) – commonly called “peanut” squash. A pale pink squash covered in warts or peanuts, & used for soup in France.
Porcelain Doll – a pink pumpkin used for pies, soups …
Sweet Dumpling – small, individual sized squash with very sweet, moist, yellow flesh.
Mini-squash – Honeynut (mini butternut), Gold Nugget (mini orange hubbard) & Shokichi Shiro (mini kabocha).
Assorted small pumpkins
What’s in the box?
Squash, Bosc pears, tomatoes, sweet peppers.
extras – hot peppers & Bartlett pears.
- Your choice of a few squashes this week! Not all the varieties listed above will be available – but there will be a good selection! Squash can be stored for a few weeks & up to several months for some kinds. It is important to keep them dry & cool. The easiest method (& our favourite way) to prepare squash is to slice it in half, scoop out the seeds and bake it – usually at 350 C. until it is soft when poked with a fork (approx. 45 minutes to an hour depending on size). Bake it cut side up or cut side down – it really doesn’t matter. Then scrape the flesh out of the skin, mash & enjoy. You can add brown sugar or maple syrup if you prefer a sweeter squash, or just salt & pepper.
- The Bosc pears in your box are still very hard & green. They will take more than a week or 2 to ripen. Bosc are at their peak for eating when they begin to turn a golden brown colour. If kept refrigerated, they will last until Christmas.
- Tomatoes & sweet peppers are coming to an end along with the CSA. Enjoy the last of them!
- There are still hot peppers available.
- So many of you have said how delicious the Bartlett pears are. Grab another basket if you want more. Eat them now while you wait for your Bosc pears to ripen.
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