What to do with all those pumpkins????

Well here is one thing we did!! Meet Jack, the scarecrow. His head is made from that super cute little Jack-o-lantern pumpkin that grew at the side of the house - the only one of the lot that was actually planted on purpose!

The kids are going to carve some more jack-o-lanterns this week out of the volunteer pumpkins that we have about 10 of! And next year - I will NOT let ALL the volunteers grow!!!!!!! I will transplant several to the front garden where they can sprawl at will and the rest of the space will be used for EDIBLE squash!

Mmmmmmm, Baked Beans. . . .

This year we grew so many dried beans that I decided to try canning some. I love the dried beans in soups and chili but I don't make baked beans often because of the time it takes. I'm always looking for new ways of using dried beans - they're so healthy and incredibly easy to grow.

So I tried canning a couple of small jars of beans - expecting the whole time that they would just end up a yucky mushy mess. Was I ever surprised! I had precooked them a tiny bit (I did not want them to expand too much and burst the jars) packed them into jars and covered with a small amount of water. After 30 minutes processing in the pressure canner I took them out and could see that they had at least held their shape, though a few looked quite split. That was 2 weeks ago. Today I opened a jar and dumped it into a pot, added about the same amount of homemade ketchup (that I had also canned a couple weeks ago)a dollop of molasses, a pinch of dry mustard and a handful of chopped ham. I heated it up for about 5 minutes and Ta-Da - "baked" beans! I did not add any extra sugar and no salt so really this is a very healthy and very quick meal. The beans had canned PERFECTLY! They had held their shape well and were firm but soft, not at all mushy. They were almost indescribably good!

Blue cornbread.

This year I grew a couple of varieties of corn for flour. The Six Nations Blue was probably the coolest one of all, though I have yet to harvest and try the Mesquakie Indian. This blue corn was great right from planting to eating! It grew very well, produced better than any of the other corns I have planted, looked very cool on the cob as it was drying and even cooler in the jar after I shelled the cobs and best of all it tasted AWESOME! I have never eaten cornbread made from fresh ground, homegrown corn. There is just nothing like it. The only drawback to it that I have considered so far is that it pretty much looks like a big pile of mold on the plate!!! Looks are deceiving though - it tasted wonderful!