I wanted to show you just a few of my sqaush, I had to put the littlest butternut alongside the biggest one, of course it looks small next to the pumpkin but trust me that is one big! butternut.

Almost every available open area of my living room and kitchen counter space, including the tops of book cases, etc are covered with different sqaush all spread out curing for winter, its to cold out at night now to just leave them out to dry, they need a warm room to allow their shells to properly harden.

Here is my basic process, I check the skins while out in the garden if they are hard enough that your fingernail does not easily dent it, its ready to be cut at the stem, I try and let a good stem on them a couple inches does not bother me at all, if the stem comes off, then they are moved to a use first pile, all are given a quick wipe off with a damp cloth if they require it, then they are laid out, not touching each other, and a couple times a day I will roll them over so that all sides and bottoms get a chance at air drying.

They like to store in a warm dry area, my cellar downstairs is fine in the fall but to cold in winter, they are stored in a space bedroom, we harvest in sept/oct before the first hard frosts and on average I am still eating my stored sqaush as late as Feb/March.

Having  said that, I only store some of them that way, alot of them will be cut open, the seeds taken out and saved, the guts/Skins going to the chickens or pigs, the flesh being cooked, mashed and frozen or cubed and canned for later use, or sliced thin and dried for storage. so many ways to preserve them but its all about time and use.

The very best sqaush from the plants that were grown from hand done flowers are marked and given a much closer look, if I think they did very well, then their seeds will be saved for use next year, as they can and will cross its important that you hand pollinate a few of the bloomes and then tape them gently off to that you know that its a pure seed, I would highly recommend seed to seed for a great reference book on how to learn to save your own seed.

I love my squash, I wish that Dh liked it more, its one of those things that he was not raised eating and has taken a good time to get him to learn to like it in different ways, he does quite enjoy it in my homemade pasta recipe He is learning to like it in soups and stews and baked in the oven but still does not like it boiled/mashed which is still one of my favorites.

While the plants normally require a good amount of room to grow, they have now developed so many new smaller plants that folks with small garden space can still enjoy these easy growing plants. If you don’t have them in your garden already, might I recommend that you consider trying them next year? If in doubt of what kind you like, check out the different ones available at your local market and learn which kinds you like best, and then read carefully in your garden catalogs to find the ones that will work best for your growing area.

Now I had better get back to what I hope soon will be my last batch of tomato’s that will need to be prepared and canned for the season 🙂