In the past month, I have made and eaten pumpkin: cakes, muffins, breads, soup, beer (ok, I didn’t make this, but I drank it in honor of the month-pretty delish, actually), scones, cookies, éclairs, toasted pumpkin seeds…a plethora of all things pumpkin. I’ve enjoyed my themed month, I must say; it pairs well with apple cider.
A week ago, in honor of my newly designated Annual Pumpkin Month, I ventured to a pumpkin patch to check out the source of my kitchen inspiration, a fitting finale to a successful recipe testing month. Its not too common to be able to go directly to a source of food in the US, with farmer markets becoming more commercial and fewer privately owned farms in existence. It was a fun experience to get out to a field and check out a food source (Zip it. I did go to the hippie college, after all, guys…).
Plus, it didn’t hurt that my awesome 3 year old nephew came along. It was a funny little farm, that included goats, cows, bunnies, llamas, a buffalo, a hayride, a corn maze, a haunted house, pony rides, a playground, a country store…and of course, the pumpkin patch. Something tells me this is a purely American type of thing.
I fed this guy. We had matching bangs.
After exploring all the aspects of the farmhouse area, I ventured out to the pumpkin patch to pick out an orange sphere with my very serious pumpkin hunter nephew. I came across a wide array of really beautiful pumpkins (does that sound weird? A bit, probably, but they were pretty, so I don’t really care). All different varieties, sizes, colors. So lovely!
My nephew searched and searched and we came up with some good pumpkins, I must say. We headed back to the farmhouse on the tractor-pulled wagon with our stash…
…and I found more squash and gourds grown on the premises. Again, I thought they were so interesting looking with their gorgeous colors and crazy bumps, I took a few more pictures. Of course. I felt like I was back at Rungis for a minute, only this time at a decent hour of the day with a borrowed camera not full of butter and flour and with a rambunctious 3 year old. My nephew thought I was just crazy.
A helpful little wagon carried our goodies when it came time to check out. We ended up with one pumpkin for my nephew, one baby pumpkin for my soon-to-be-here nephew, 2 pumpkins for the grandparents (my mom and dad love them a pumpkin patch…), a hubbard squash and 2 carnival squashes (I ate one of the carnival squashes the other night – yum. Like, super super Yum. Will share soon my cooking adventure, as they are something new for me and awesome for dinner). Oh, and one lollipop for my nephew.
Not a bad haul. I had a great time scouring the fields for lovely pumpkins with my perfection-seeking nephew. And while we carved a couple of these guys into jack-o-lanterns for Halloween, I certainly plan on roasting and eating the others very soon…
