Pumpkins!

I haven't officially welcomed fall until I visit Kelp's Pumpkin Patch in Brown County, on 46 just east of Gnawbone. At that time I indulge my mania for winter squash. This year I didn't have to buy cheese pumpkins or fairy tale pumpkins, since those appear to be what I have growing in my yard (along with another variety that I still can't identify), but we had a good haul anyway. And yes, I will do my best to eat all of them before the winter's over!

Kelp's has the widest selection of squash and pumpkins I've ever seen. I don't even mess with the standard Hallowwen pumpkin these days-- boring! Give me green, beige, red, warty, lumpy, and tasty. We were a little late getting there this year, so the pallets are a little less abundant than they were a week or two ago.

My pumpkins in the wagon below: two Blue Hubbards, a big warty Red Hubbard, a warty dark Green Hubbard, a Cinderella (under the warty red hubbard) , and a couple of butternuts.

We also got a German pie pumpkin, which has lovely dark green and cream stripes. Why so many Hubbards, you ask? Well, they look fabulous, for starters. And also they are consistently the tastiest squash.

I can eat them plain after roasting, they're so sweet. And since one of my favorite breakfasts in the fall is warm pumpkin puree with sorghum molasses, this stand-alone tastiness is important. Try doing that with canned pie pumpkin. Blah!