Now most of us know what a pumpkin is, if nothing else from seeing them on the porches in N.A. at the end of Oct when the trick and treaters come out, or at thanksgiving when either the much loved or much hated pumpkin pie comes out!
The pumpkin can be hard to peel, so the most common way to cook them is to cut off the top, clean out the guts (saving the seeds) and giving the rest to the chickens or pig, who love them as a treat, and then cut them into halfs and bake them till tender, when the skin will peel right off at that point you can put the flesh into a pot and simmer it down to the thickness you like and then freeze it up.. if you are going to can it, you cut it into lines and then peel the lines, cubing it into the jars and pressure canning it from there.. You can also make the most amazing pumpkin jam, I highly recommend this, and then do it up into 8 oz jars, each jar is perfect for making a pumpkin loaf or cake, just remember to lower the sugar used, by the amount of sugar used in the jam per jar.
You can make soups with it, you can add peices to stews, it will melt into the broth and add a wonderful depth of flavor, you can make cakes or loafs or bar’s with it, you can cut it up and use it as a extra feed value for almost all of your barn critters, sheep, goat, cow or pig will eat it, chickens too.. you have to cook it for the ducks or geese, and only very tiny amounts for the rabbits but it can be given in small treat sizes.
Most folks are aware of or have bought and eaten pumpkin seeds at some point, either in the shell, roasted with a touch of salt or more likely out of the shell raw, if you are male or have males in your house over the age of 30, and you keep up with the latest trends, then the odds are good that you have raw pumpkin seeds in the house and find ways to add them to your man’s meal plan.
The second use that is often done with raw pumpkin seeds is to grind them up and use them in both human and critter natural deworming programs, on the farm, I will always save, wash and then dry the pumpkin seeds, a few get roasted and used fresh by me, but most get put away for use for the critters in late winter, just as a handfull of sunflower seeds go on top of my rabbits feed for extra in the extra cold, so does pumpkin and sqaush seeds go to my layers, my mothers to be and my milkers.
A few folks, know that they can eat the male pumpkin flowers (always leaving some for their jobs of course), they can be finely sliced raw into salad’s, or added into soups, stews, dried for later use, or they can be stuffed with fillings, veggie fillings or meat fillings or a mix of the above, they can be dripped in batter and deep-fried for a amazing crunchy treat.
But not many seem to know that the pumpkin young greens can also be eaten, you can dried them for crumbles, you can simmer them into soups or stews, you can cook them into greens the same way you would any other strong green, some like to do a first blanch and then use them, I don’t find I need to for nice light young green leaves but if they are a bit of a darker green, I would agree.
Wonder what to do with the big huge old leaves of dark green, well your critters will still love them, they can be hung in bundles to dry and used as a feed green in the very coldest part of winter as a suppliment, they can be used as instant home grown plates for those days you want to serve something just a bit different at the table or at a picnic.
So what is your favorite part of the pumpkin plant? What is your favorite recipe that uses pumpkins in it? Did you grow Pumpkins in your garden this year? if not, will you be buying some to put away for later use?
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Just another Day on the Farm 
Mmmm, I love pumpkin anything! Best part of autumn for me. I had no idea you could eat the greens! We always plant a big pumpkin patch with pie pumpkins and jack ‘o’ lanterns, and I like to try new strange ones all the time like white ones or warty ones just for fun. Every year we try to grow a giant one too, although it only worked out once, they seem to be prone to every bug and disease out there. Big but wimpy. Here’s my favorite recipe, this stuff is awesome (but so not healthy..oh well). http://allrecipes.com/recipe/pumpkin-pie-bread/detail.aspx For the pumpkin pie spice I use 1/2 t cinnamon, 1/4 t ginger, 1/8 t allspice and 1/8 t nutmeg. I make up a small container of this then measure out what I need for the recipe and anything else I want to use it in. And the bread is way better after sitting a couple or three days. I’m afraid I may have to buy pie pumpkins this year. Depending on the price at market I may just buy canned, if they are the same price it will save me a lot of work.
Hi Daisy,
thanks for the recipe link, and your thoughts on pumpkin eating and growing!, I have always looked at those warty ones and think they look like a woot, I think I will have to plant a few next year and see if they will grow for me, I have never tried to grow the big ones, they say they need so much water, and I very much dry water garden with old fashion spacing, they get just enough water to start and if its really dry but otherwise, its ground cover and they are to point on their own, make or break, but the good part of that, is that I am keeping back the ones that thrive in my climate and on the farm, so hopefully each year they will be better adapted.
I really should do that too, but I always get seduced into buying strange ones that look cool. lol As a result I don’t save any seeds from the pumpkins because I figure they’ll all be crossed. I may be totally wrong, but don’t they cross with zuchinni too? Is your pumpkin patch isolated? And, yeah, the giant ones do take a lot of water and aren’t really worth the bother, but with a regular amount of rain they still make big pumpkins just not competition big.
Hi Daisy, I do have three different garden spots around the farm, so that helps some on the crossing, but If I want to keep something pure, I will hand do the female flowers and then tap them shut, so I know that they are either pure or very close to it. I do have a couple handmade of the cages as well for making sure that certain plants will stay pure.. Never had any cross with zuchinni that I am aware of, but yes I do get some mixing between the different kinds when left to their own.
I love pumpkin pie, pumpkin pancakes, and pumpkin lattes. I planted pumpkins specifically this year for pie around the holidays. I’ve found using an actual pumpkin instead of the canned variety makes an amazing pie! I also love the seeds with cinnamon and sugar.
Wow, I have never put sugar and cinnamon on pumpkin seeds, I have got to try that, sounds like you can eat or drink anything pumpkin flavored 🙂
Hi FarmGal, Did you know that you can also substitute winter squash for pumpkin? By the time all of the spices are mixed in there’s no difference in taste and they’re more nutritionally packed too! (Not to mention a lot less thirsty; )
Morning Deb, Thanks for pointing that out, I really like butternut pie, and great point about needing less water in the growing season.
Hi you “Guys”!
@Daisy: Yes they will cross with any of the other curcubits. We’ve had some really interesting mulch pile volunteers over the years – green pumpkins/orange zukes (and all with a skin like concrete), some that looked like a buttercup and tasted like crap… But hey, they all look great on the porch at Hallowe’en; )
@FarmGal: Mm,mm pie!! What’s Butternut Pie? Anything like Pumpkin? More details please??