(DF) GREAT PUMPKIN AWARD? SERIOUSLY??

For the record, NO, I didn't grow these pumpkins.  I didn't even purchase them, or for that matter, carry them to the vehicle.  As much as I would love to take at least some credit for these cute little specimens, I simply can't.

This morning, as I sat quietly eating breakfast, the phone rang.  The number on the screen was not a familiar one so I hesitated.  Finally, I answered it, curious to see what kind of nut job would be calling at breakfast time on Sunday.

When I answered, the voice asked if I was Mr. Smith.  When I indicated that I was, he informed me that I had been selected to receive the "Great Pumpkin Award".  My reaction was a somewhat sarcastic one.  "Great Pumpkin Award?"  "SERIOUSLY??", I asked with no hesitation.

The laughter that came next, I recognized.  It was the brother-in-law type character on the next hill.  Turns out the rumors of him growing pumpkins this year were true, and I was invited to come and pick out a couple.

These are not the largest in the patch, but will serve nicely.  Honestly, I am not currently in shape to lift the largest ones, which are quite a bit bigger.

Anna and I had hoped to grow some of this type of pumpkin, but it is hard for a tightwad to justify the price of seeds for giant pumpkins (they are a bit pricey).  Now, we have plenty of seeds and the opportunity to test the quality of these pumpkins.  I'm sure they will taste great, and I can hardly wait to sample the "Great Pumpkin Award".

(DF) PATCHED PUMPKIN UPDATE!!!!

As you can see, the patch evolved from wax and gauze to blue duck tape with peace signs. Please don't ask why I have such tape, as it is a long story, and complicated.  Anyway, this picture was taken in preparation for picking the pumpkin late last week just ahead of our first serious freeze of the season.  With the poor little patched pumpkin all grown up and a freeze coming, the time was right and the patch had worked at least well enough for the damaged pumpkin to mature.  So we got a good pumpkin for the holidays, though with a bit more effort than the standard.  RIGHT???

NOT SO FAST!!!  Things aren't always as they appear.  I knew that with the pumpkin's injury, it wouldn't likely keep as long as normal.  My full intent was to open it up, take the seeds and cook the flesh for pies.  Who knows, I might have even canned a couple of quarts for later in the winter, or experimented with drying some.  No such luck.  With work, searching for a hay source, unexpected funerals and countless other delays, Friday rolled around with this fine fellow still on the kitchen floor.  It was still fine and seemed solid Friday afternoon, and I went to Anna's  with the intent to set the pumpkin as a priority for early in the week.  Returning home this afternoon, I immediately smelled something amiss.  Yes, our fair, peaceful friend had leaked rotten pumpkin juice all over the kitchen floor. 

After grabbing towels to contain the mess, I found the large stock pot and began filling it with chunks of yellow stench.  Needless to say, I was not happy with this situation, but maybe there could be a somewhat brighter side to it.  I began feeling through the yellow goo for seeds.  Believe it or not, I found quite a few solid, fully mature seeds, which I truly hope are viable. 

In the end, the mess is cleaned up, the chickens were extremely enthusiastic about the remains and there are seeds of hope for a future season.  Though it would be nice to have a pie from our own pumpkin this year, there are other pumpkins available, so no need to complain.

(DF) PATCHING THE PUMPKIN

As you can see, the pumpkin which I mentioned in previous posts, has grown a bit.  But wait, what is that thing on it that looks like a bandage?  It is a bandage of course.  Why a bandage?, you may ask.  Answer is that for some reason, the pumpkin which was perfectly fine last night, had somehow cracked open by this morning.  The crack was only a couple of inches long but penetrated through into the seed cavity.  Not good considering all the bugs that would love to eat on the inside and the fact that it is supposed to rain tonight, which would fill the pumpkin with water making it rot on the vine.

This pumpkin being the only one likely to reach maturity before frost, I was left with a choice.  I could harvest and salvage the pumpkin in hopes that the seeds were mature enough to save for spring, or I could try to seal it up so it might mature a bit more on the vine.  My choice is obvious.

In case you are wondering why I was not at work this morning instead of practicing emergency medicine on pumpkins, it is because after seeing the dentist yesterday and having a tooth pulled, I decided to take a day of sick leave and take it easy.  Yes, this is pertinent information on the pumpkin first aid, so back to the pumpkin.

My first thought of how to patch the pumpkin, was to use beeswax.  I have always found beeswax to be great for anything where the sealer has to remain somewhat flexible since it doesn't become brittle when cold like paraffin.  Question was of how to keep the wax from just running into the pumpkin instead of sealing over.  The answer was in the small bag of two inch square surgical sponges (aka gauze pads) that the dentist had sent home for me to hold on the former location of my tooth to stop the bleeding.  They always send too many and this was a likely use for a couple of them.  I promptly melted some beeswax in an old coffee can, dropped in the gauze, let it cool enough to be handled though still molten, and applied them to the wound.  The beeswax stuck to the pumpkin skin like it was made to do so and now, as you can see, the pumpkin appears to be protected.  We will hope it holds up long enough for the poor thing to mature.

At this point, if you are not asking why so much trouble for this particular pumpkin, I am thoroughly surprised.  Fact is that this pumpkin has a story behind it in terms of mine and Anna's working together to build a life together even while still living on separate farms.  So now for a little background.

Last fall, Anna and I were shopping at a fruit market in her area.  They had stocked up on pumpkins of all sorts, including some rather large red pumpkins, a variety I had grown in the past but lost seed of.  Anna bought a large one (about 60 pounds) to try, and for the seeds.  During the winter, the pumpkin was damaged and began to rot.  Anna managed to save some of the seeds and started some for the spring.  Between heat, drought, bugs and other critters, most did not survive.  Anna still has two or three plants and I still have two, but this pumpkin is our best chance of hanging on to the seed and for her to get to finally taste this type of pumpkin.  It would really be nice for the price of the pumpkin Anna bought last fall not to be wasted, and for us to be able to carry on this variety from that purchase would be even better.  It is truly a symbol of Anna and I working together, while separate, to bring our two farms together, and for that reason it is really an important little pumpkin.

(DF) MISCELLANEOUS AND SOMEWHAT RANDOM UPTDATE TO RECENT POSTS

First off, about Friday's rain.  Actually, though the morning mist was very nice and beneficial, the rain just didn't happen.  It didn't happen Saturday as forecast either.  Seems that Isaac didn't care to travel quite this far west, but did send some cool, damp weather (though short lived) our way.  By Monday, it was back above 100 degrees and has been there every day since.  There was rain again yesterday, and you probably already guessed, it was in the parking lot where I work but not here on the farm where I should be working. A RANDOM THOUGHT JUST OCCURRED; maybe if I come home, the rain will too, soon to be followed by bill collectors of course.

Remember the pumpkin vine pics I recently posted?  I believe I posted them Friday morning while it misted outside.  The next day, rabbits found the new leaves and stripped about half of the biggest vine.  The pumpkins are alright and still growing and new leaves are coming on to replace the ones eaten.  My first and most obvious question was about the why of rabbits who had shown no interest at all, suddenly stripping the vine.  The answer seems to be a simple one, though it took a couple of days to figure out.  The cool misty morning washed the leaves clean and dampened the ground enough so I didn't have to water Friday.  In the interest of water conservation, I had been saving bathwater to water the plants.  Seems rabbits don't like the soap in the bathwater.  As soon as I resumed watering, the chewing of leaves abruptly stopped.  I can't say soapy water is better to water with than rain water, but if the rabbits eat up the plants in question, the rain water won't do them much good.  I SURE AM GLAD THE FUZZY LITTLE CRITTERS DON'T LIKE SOAP!!!!

That leads to the ongoing topic of water conservation.  Yes, every drop must be saved if possible, and I continue to do so.  This leads to a water saving topic mentioned in a post recently; composting toilet system.  I decided a few weeks ago to try it out based on the methods recommended in "The Humanure Handbook". Years ago, when I lived totally off grid and somewhat primitive, I composted the cleanings from an old fashioned outdoor toilet.  The resulting compost was buried deep beneath my tomato plants (at the advice of an acquaintance who had lived in a third world country for a time).  The reasoning being that any pathogens would be underground and not come in contact with the fruit.  This composting venture yielded great tomatoes but was a smelly, fly infested endeavor.  By contrast, the methods described in the previously mentioned publication, at least so far I am pleased to say, have not produced any appreciable odor.  Likewise it hasn't drawn flies either to my facilities or the compost pile, and there have been no scavengers digging around in the compost.  The internal temperature of the pile has also been plenty hot enough to kill any known pathogen (in the unlikely event that any were present in the first place).

Back to water conservation.  The composting toilet system saves about 30 gallons of water each day, water that can be used better almost anywhere than in the septic tank.  As an added bonus, each time the toilet is not flushed, is a time when the well pump doesn't kick on.  Over the course of a month, that adds up to quite a few times the pump doesn't kick on (approximately 150 times in fact) and that should translate to some savings on the electric bill.  I won't know just how much savings until the next bill comes in but I will pass that information along later along with more details.

If it sounds like I am complaining, I'm not.  Well alright!!!! maybe I am just a bit, but in truth, the things I am complaining about, I am also truly grateful for, simply because of the information and experience I am gaining and the growth it forces.  Even the most frustrating and just down right hard things in life deserve gratitude.  May we always be grateful!!!!!

(DF) WORTH WATERING UNTIL THE RAINS COME???

Saturday night (August 25th) it finally rained.  Not much of a rain, only about an inch, but it came gently and all soaked in.  The following day, another three quarters of an inch or so was added to that, settling the dust here at my place for the first time in well over a month, even though people living one mile east of me claim to have had more rain than that on three or four occasions during that time..  Strange how much difference a mile makes in the weather.

All through this extremely hot and dry summer, I have been carrying water to the plants with no hope of making them produce, just hoping to keep them alive in anticipation of a cool rain.  Please do not doubt that I have often been discouraged, disgusted, exhausted, depressed and down right angry at the sometimes obvious futility of carrying so much water for what might well be nothing.  I had begun to count the myth of rain and cool temperatures right up there with Santa Clause and the Tooth Fairy.  One question became always present.  "IS IT REALLY WORTH WATERING UNTIL THE RAIN COMES?"

When the weather finally cooled a little, my hope was renewed somewhat, but it certainly didn't leave time to rest from watering.  My special "pets", the pumpkin vines, had been being watered every day while the other plants were on a two or three day rotation.  With cooler temperatures, the pumpkin vines began to look better and actually grow a bit.  The Saturday night and Sunday rain made all the difference.  The vines burst into growth and began to bloom.  Taking no chances on bees and other insects (and I am normally a major advocate of letting nature take its course) I made certain the first female bloom was thoroughly pollinated.  This was done on Monday afternoon.

The pictures (taken Thursday evening) do not do justice to the results.  The largest of the small pumpkins is now a bit larger than a softball, and the vines are going wild with growth and blooms.  Today,, so far we have had heavy mist and light showers all morning, and there is hope of heavier rain through the rest of the day and tonight into tomorrow, thanks to the hurricane turned tropical depression passing nearby.

So for the question of whether or not watering and hoping were worth it,  Right now it feels like a resounding YES.  With not only the pumpkins doing so well, but also tomatoes and peppers blooming again, I am glad I watered enough to keep them all alive until the rain came.   As an added bonus, the green beans and summer squash I planted Saturday, just before the rain, are up and today's moisture should get them off o a good start.  With a little good fortune, the cupboard will be stocked from the garden this winter.