This weekend we decided to go out to The Pumpkin Patch. It's a few miles down the road from us, and is a new tradition of ours to go every year. The boys get their Jack-O'-Lanterns and I get Luminas for pies. We pay $20 USD to fill a large wheelbarrow with U-pick-it pumpkins.
Saturday we loaded the kids into the truck and headed out. But when we got to the Pumpkin Patch, it was shut up tight. There were no signs nor harvest decorations. No tractor pulling a straw and people laden wagon. No families mulling around, playfully teasing each other, waiting for the tractor to return. Nothing but a locked wrought iron gate. The back seat erupted in moaning and out cries of disappointment. We slowly drove past.
Pouting, I asked was there another patch close by? My husband and I knew of a few down south, but nothing close. But wait! Wasn't there one by my husband's sister's place?
We drove out that way, only to find an abandoned home. The older gentleman that grew pumpkins had died last year. His children were to busy fighting over how much to sell the land for to bother keeping a tradition in that area alive.
Sadly we started home, when suddenly there was a trailer siting on a side road loaded down with pumpkins! And it had a sign declaring that they were for sale. We pulled off the side of the road. All the pumpkins were Jack-O'-Lanterns. We picked out 5 huge ones, and put our money into the little lock box that was glues to the trailer. Rare to find honor system paying on a busy road. Unfortunately it looks like I do not get my lumina pumpkins this year, but the meat of the Jack-O'-Lanterns can make a decent pie.
While looking for something to link Lumina pumpkin with {just in case someone doesn't know what they are.} I found an article on frugal living and pumpkins. It states that you should not buy a lumina pumpkin for cooking. That it is stringy and weak in flavor. May I say BS! This writer must not get a good quality lumina. I find that they make the best pumpkin pies. Better than the traditional pumpkins.
6 comments:
I remember reading an article last year about how Lumina Pumpkins were the next Tickle Me Elmo. Decorators everywhere were trying to pick them up, and their prices became ridiculously inflated in most urban areas.
Our local co-op carries a lot of different organic pumpkins, but I don't think I've seen any luminas this year. My favorite for pies are the small dark orange ones (not sure of their name). I've already made 2 large batches of pumpkin custard this year.
Sorry to hear another pumpkin patch closed. Those were so memorable for me as a child. My parents had a good friend who owned a large pumpking patch and a couple times he borrowed our black cat to walk around. The kids loved her.
I think Luminas are great pie pumpkins too. We haven't found any this year, and settled for a Cinderella Squash which will make a decent pie in a pinch.
Will you be freezing these pies? How would one go about freezing pumpkin pies in the deep freezer? Would they last very long or be any good?
Inquiring minds want to know and you seem to be in the know :D.
~T
Hellooo. Sorry, I'm even worse at commenting than I am at updating my blog, heh. I am, however, still alive and reading.
Take care, etc.
Justin, that doesn't surprise me. Of course they painted them and then threw them out. How sad.
burdockboy, I have no idea what's up with the luminas. Ours burned up this summer. I have seen a few painted up in the local groccery, but none for sale. When you find out the name of the pumpkin you're using, let me know.
Jenny, I am glad you agree! I find that they are lighter and have a more sublte pumpkin flavor, not weak. I have never used a Cinderella Squash for pie before. I'd like to hear more about it.
Tammie, yes, I will be freezing them. They last with good decent flavor for six weeks. After that, they need to be perked up a bit with spices. Your best bet is to make it more like a cream pie, then the heavy traditional pies. {at least that's what I perfer with my frozen ones}
Jono! Great to see you. Hope your wrist is better, and school is going well.
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