Show me your Pumpkins!

[Vivia]

Haven't had a Pumpkin for years but did this one with my OH today:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v621/Chems-/th_DSC00569.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v621/Chems-/?action=view&current=DSC00569.jpg)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v621/Chems-/th_DSC00570.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v621/Chems-/?action=view&current=DSC00570.jpg)

[Solunar Silver Studio]

Very good! I bet your fingers really ache now! I remember doing some for the kids in years past and beihg stunned at how hard pumpkins are!! Mine were nothing compared to yours! They were lucky to get 3 holes and a split with most of the insides still inside!!!:-D

This dropped into my inbox this morning...10 Stunning Pumpkin Carvings (http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/10/31/10-Stunning-Pumpkin-Carvings.aspx) ...good for a laugh!!

[Petal]

Well done Vivia with carving the pumpkin, they really are very hard work on the hands! I love the piccies of the carvings Bee. We used to live not far from the Slindon 'squash & pumpkin man' and used to regularly do our autumn walks past his place with thousands of the things. He did do a beautiful display and his son is carrying on the tradition, I think.

The pumpkin king's crowning glory - Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/features/3638094/The-pumpkin-kings-crowning-glory.html)

Funnily enough we are having pumpkin soup tonight - it is absolutely delicious with a hint of ginger and sherry ! oh yes, and maybe some garlic bread (naughty, but nice). We grew 4 this year and the heaviest one was 12lb. -There's not many soups left in the freezer now though.... :'(

xx

[lesley]

In my day it was turnips and not pumpkins.
I love the smell when the candle is burning inside.

That soup sounds deliciouso, Jules. Do you grow any other veg?

[Petal]

We grow loads and loads of the things... it certainly keeps me & my OH fit tending the garden. This year its been: leeks, chard, garlic, sweetcorn (a disaster, they were like rubber), shallots, brussel sprouts, pots, apples, cherries, pears, carrots, peas, french beans, pumpkins, strawberries, razzers, gooseberries, tomatoes, green chilly peppers, melons, cucumbers - oh and fennel. Bloody hell, having typed all that lot, that's a lot of veggies, isn't it!

It just seems to happen automatically, we have grown our own veg for quite a few years, but this year we have been pretty much self-sufficient. Our first crop of new potatoes tasted even more delicious as we waited for our own, covered in butter - bliss! .. sorry I'm a bit hungry, can you tell :giggle:

xx

[lesley]

Wow!

I should grow my own veg (being a non meat eater) but the trouble is, I hate gardening. You have to do it regularly and remember to water things.

[Petal]

With most things, you just water very well once you put them in and they're off. Its the weeding that will hinder most veg, as they don't like a lot of weeds around their roots. You really should give it a go, they taste wonderful and as they don't get sprayed they are much better for you.

xx
oops off for dinner now...

[Emerald]

well here are the kids pumpkins and my soup lol, the things i take photos of! xx

[Vivia]

Barbara my hands are feeling a little on the achey side- but nothing a dose of chocolate (or wine, whichever comes to hand first) won't cure!

Emerald, the pumpkins and soup look lovely- obviously a creative family ;) I wasn't sure when doing ours today which bit you have to put into the soup- I know it sound silly but most of the seeds were sort of inter-mingled with the flesh, so I wouldn't know how to get much out of it...

This is clearly why I' not a domestic goddess....

[Petal]

You just remove the outer skin, save the seeds to roast with salt (they are delicious, or you could save them and grow pumpkins)... and just use the rest in a soup... minus the candle wax, of course :Y: That soup looks lovely and the pumpkins look really cute :X

xx

[Vivia]

Thank you for the tips Petal. I wonder if I get to the Co-op early enough tomorrow morning there'll be a few reduced price pumpkins....

[Kalorlo]

I didn't carve pumpkins... but I did make pumpkin beads :D

Then hurriedly strung them on cord to wear to a Halloween party yesterday!

525

[Solunar Silver Studio]

They look really great Heather!:Y:

[Emerald]

they look fab Heather.

Although my soup was delicious i have had a really bad tum all day so will be steeering clear in the future lol.

[Kalorlo]

Thanks Barbara and Jo :D

I got compliments on them. (Though my earrings were a tad fudged because I had to assemble them after I got there! Bead, earwire, thread onto cord and tie a knot...)