2016 Winter Squash & Pumpkins

    We have been incredibly lucky this year to have such a tremendous harvest of winter squash and cooking pumpkins. We face our fair share of challenges by growing with organic practices. Certain pests and diseases remain a problem year after year, but we continue to mature as a farm each season to try and combat these issues, one at a time.
    This season the bulk of our cucumber, summer squash, zucchini, winter (fall) squash and cooking pumpkins were located at our satellite garden, just 3 miles from the main farm. This garden has a wonderful build-up of organic matter, and has been managed organically by the family who owns the farm.  Nestled between several large barns and machine sheds, and protected by a meandering creek with towering trees, this small garden continues to out-perform our main farm, in terms of square feet. All these factors, combined with a long-term crop rotation plan, allowed our winter squash to mature past their most vulnerable growth stage before cucumber beetles and squash bugs blew into the garden and started doing damage.
    So folks, without further ado, here is our lineup of winter squash and cooking pumpkin varieties for the 2016 season.

Winter Squash

Variety: Delicata
Serving Size: 1-2
Best Use: Delicata is the only winter squash that can be eaten with the skin on. Also known as sweet potato squash, because the flesh is so sweet!

Variety: Zucchino Rampicante, Heirloom
Serving Size: 4-10 (size varies)
Best Use: We love this squash because the young fruit can be used as a wonderfully flavored zucchini, and the mature fruit tastes just as great as a winter squash. The Italians use this squash for stuffing in gnocchi and ravioli, but it works just as well in soups or baking.

Type: Acorn
Variety: Sweet REBA
Serving Size: 1-2
Best Use: Like most other fall squash, this mild-flavored squash is great when baked with some butter and brown sugar.

Type: Hubbard
Variety: Baby Blue Hubbard
Serving Size: 8
Best Use: This variety is both ugly and beautiful, with it's bumpy, odd shape and gorgeous blue-grey coloration. The flesh is orange and sweet tasting, great for baking and soups. Can be cut into wedges for easier baking and serving.

Variety: Pennsylvania Dutch Crookneck Squash, Heirloom
Serving Size: 4-6
Best Use: This winter squash resembles a butternut squash with a long neck, thus the nickname "neck pumpkin". It is a favorite in Amish communities for use in pies and desserts.

Type: Butternut
Variety: Honeynut, miniature
Serving Size: 1-2
Best Use: A yellowish-tan when ripe, butternut squash has a unique orange flesh. This variety is miniature and and be prepared like an acorn squash.

Variety: Spaghetti
Serving Size: 2-6 (size varies)
Best Use: Unlike other winter squash, the flesh of this variety is stringy when cooked, with the strings being the size and consistency of spaghetti. You can use it as a substitute for pasta, or make a more winter-squash type dish with the cooked noodles.

Cooking Pumpkins

Type: Pie
Variety: New England Pie, Heirloom
Best Use: Nearly stringless flesh gives a great thick consistency for pies. Sweet flesh.

Type: Pie
Variety: Long Pie, Heirloom
Best Use: Considered the best pie pumpkin for cooking by our supplier, High Mowing Organic Seeds. Stringless flesh, with a green exterior that will ripen to orange in storage. Also known as Nantucket Pie.