Triple Pumpkin Homicide Aunt Debbi Still At Large

Another vegetable killing occurred tonight in Combine Texas at approximately 8:30 pm. The serial killer is still at large.

Here are the Monkeys' Jack-O-Lanterns.

Here they are again lit up.

Happy Halloween.

When Pumpkins Drink

I thought this was too funny and just had to share.

Here are some more pumpkin posts plus a gratuitous link to my sister and Monarch butterflies

Poor Richard's Almanac -The Pumpkin Book

Garden Joy 4 Me - Pumpkin People

My Sister's In Stitches - Monarchs

Go check out Adventures in My Garden's fall header

Sue at Cottage in the Cedars has pumkin boards

If you have something pumpkin related leave me a message and I will link you up.

A Couple of Tweeks

Here is the final picture of the half barrel water garden with the Curly Whirly Juncas in a green container and the medium sized ball along with the cobalt blue ball. I like this much better.

Manly Man thought Kit Carver needed a goatie. We think it is a nice touch.

My niece is getting married tomorrow. Unless something strikes me as just too funny in the morning, I will be back on Saturday.

Squash Soup for Silence

Silence over at Poor Richard's Almanac asked for recipes using butternut squash that do not use sweeteners. I picked up a butternut squash at the store earlier today and decided to make soup out of it. I am planning the same thing for Mr. Carver up there come Thanksgiving (my favorite holiday).

So here goes

1 Butternut squash

2 Carrots

2 Celery stalks

1 Clove of garlic

2 1/2 Cups chicken broth

1/2 Teaspoon onion powder

1/2 Teaspoon cumin

1/2 Teaspoon curry powder

1/2 Teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 Teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 Teaspoon ground thyme (I will use fresh next time)

1/2 Teaspoon paprika

Black pepper to taste

Cut the squash in half, remove the seeds, brush with olive oil and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until the squash can be easily scraped away from the skin. Saute garlic, carrots, and celery until tender. Put everything together in a blender and puree.

Make sure the lid of the blender is on tight. Trust me, I learned the hard way. Soup on the ceiling, not good.

Mine had a few carrot chunks, but I liked it that way. Milk or vegetable broth can be substituted for the chicken broth to make this a more vegetarian friendly dish. The soup was a little to spicy for the Monkeys. That's okay, more for me. I did a little research, and this soup is loaded with Vitamin A and beta carotene.

Is it wrong to tease a pumpkin?

Thanks a Lot Ike

We are all okay. We lost a tree limb or two and the Monkeys had to miss the last day of Cotton Festival, but it could have been a lot worse.

The rain barrel is full, so that is something.

Middle Monkey came in from outside to let us know the wind had picked up speed. How did he know? It almost knocked him out of the pecan tree. Anybody knows you don't climb a tree in a hurricane. Sometimes I think these boys have the common sense of plankton.

Here is the first of Mr. Carver's costumes. How do you like that paper cat mask?

Picked the Pumpkin Today

Today was the day. I picked the pumpkin. In a little bit, I will go out into my garden and remove all of the wild pumpkin vines. This should do a lot to tidy things up. I saw some pumpkin costumes in a magazine the other day. So I will begin sewing pumpkin costumes soon. I think a cat mask would look quite handsome. Anyway, this pumpkin is going to be around a while as a decoration for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and just fall in general. Since it will be part of the family for a while before we eat it, I think we should give it a name. Any suggestions?

Pumpkin Update

Looks like our little pumpkin is growing up. He is beginning to turn orange. He measures 10 inches stem to blossom end and 24 inches around the middle. I did double check that measurement. Being more than twice as big around as long doesn't seem right, but it is. We won't be carving this into a jack-o-lantern for Halloween. Don't worry, I have a friend who is really good with paint and will give him a great face. That way it will not rot in a week. I've put way too much effort and angst into that little pumpkin. He is sticking around until Thanksgiving. I feel like it is time for us to give the little guy a name. Any suggestions?

Updates

I thought it might be time for a few updates

The carpenter finished the bridge over the bog garden. Isn't it pretty? Ignore the Monkey.

The pink containers are recycled cattle feed buckets. Some of the plants I want to use on this project can be invasive and we are hoping the containers will provide a barrier as well as holding more water around the plants roots.

I found a way to increase my rainwater harvesting capacity. It looks pretty redneck, but it works. This is another way to recycle those cattle feed buckets.

Remember our cute little pumpkin. Well, look at her now. There are a few spots that are beginning to turn orange. I don't think it will get really big, but I don't care. This is my first pumpkin success. I did not have to cull any of the other baby pumpkins. They shriveled up and turned yellow without any help from me.

Apparently, Pumpkin Growing is Sort of Complicated

Since I have committed to growing these pumpkins, I decided to do a little research on how to do it right.

1. Amend the soil - check.

2. Pick your variety - too late.

3. Plant seedlings - planted themselves.

4. Water - All the time

5. Fertilize with nitrogen during vine growth, phosphorus during fruit set, and potassium during fruit growth. Mine are at the fruit set stage, so bone meal will do the trick.

Here is where it gets weird. Apparently, there are a bunch of crazy people who grow pumpkins competitively. They want you to pull all but one baby pumpkin off the vine. Then they want you to force the vine to grow perpendicular to the pumpkin. There was also a pretty complicated set of instructions on pruning pumpkin vines. In order to insure pumpkin bloodlines, these prized pumpkins must practice birth control by putting baggies over the female blooms. The female blooms must then be hand pollinated. No bees allowed, hmmm.

I don't know if you can tell how much bigger this guy is from yesterday. It is growing fast.

Here is another a few days younger.

Here is an itty bitty baby.

I counted about eight pumpkins on two vines. Should I cull a few of them or let them all live?