Sunday, November 1, 2009

Squashapalooza

Last year, around this time, I went in on a wagon full of squash with my neighbor. Unfotunately, I didn't get to actually experience picking out the squash (she went without me) and I didn't have any idea what to do so much squash. I roasted and pureed quite a bit of it, but I also ended up composting a lot of it because I just couldn't get motivated to do the work.

However, since then, I've been dreaming of sqaush and looking forward to trying it again this year. So, with dreams of building a root cellar dancing in my head, I counted down the days until the end of the local farm season. My dreams were nearly dashed by an early snow storm that dropped 20 inches on us in the middle of October, but the good folks at Munson Farm knew the storm was coming, harvested as much squash as possible, and saved it from the freeze. So, Saturday Kathy and I headed down there to collect some squash. While we didn't get quite the deal we got last year(they, understandably had less squash to work with this year), we still managed to get a loaded up wagon full for $99. How big was the wagon? Huge. We ended up with 35 squash each: cinderella pumpkin, lumina, white pumpkin, delicata, buttercup, acorn, spaghetti, butternut, blue pumpkin, banana squash, carnival squash, cheese pumpkin, musquee de provence pumpkin, and a few French heirloom varieties (like a pink one with warts) whose names I can't recall.
I worried about the ability of my little Saturn to get all that squash home (we were riding low), but we made it and I managed to move them from the trunk to the floor of my garage (I cut the piles of bicycles out of the picture above) while I prepare the pantry.

So, stay tuned for all kinds of squash in all kinds of ways.