Scavenging for Squash

one of my favorite things to find this time of year is discarded pumpkins.  not all the pumpkins people buy end up getting carved, many an ornamental pumpkin is purchased simply to sit there and look pretty, only to be tossed once the fall holiday season ends and the winter season begins.

Jarrahdale and a little Lumina

 through the whole month of november its very easy to find perfectly good gourds left at the curb with the rest of the yard waste (which of course is not waste, but excellent compost waiting to be!) and so every trash night i go out hunting for them. Here's what i found yesterday.

the stars of last nights garbage harvest are the two Jarrahdale pumpkins, which have the unique gray-green flesh and a superb eating pumpkin. there was also a Lumina Pumpkin (the small white one) and two normal Jack-O-Lantern varieties.   the larger orange colored pumpkin is a cultivar im unsure of.  it looks like a Boer pumpkin, but the wrong color. so perhaps its some kind of hybrid, perhaps with a Cinderella pumpkin (yes that is the actual name of the variety)

Jarrahdale, mystery cultivar, and a teeny tiny baby one

being car-free for the most part, bringing these prizes home is an extra big challenge.  Have you ever transported pumpkins on a bike?  I have, and last night i brought home 37.5 pounds of free food home.  cargo trailer not included.

it was a lot more secure than it looks

It took two trips to get everything home;  at first i just went with the initial Jarrahdale and Lumina in my backpack, dropped them off at home and continued my rounds with heavy artillery.

i strapped the mystery cultivar to my rear-rack since it was the flattest and the deep grooves allowed my bungee cords to get a good hold and keep it still.  Although i still went very carefully over bumps and even dismounted to walk the bike when going up and down hills.  Better safe than sorry,  i wasnt feeling like scraping pumpkin guts up off the sidewalk that evening.

the second jarrahdale went into my backpack and the two [uncarved] Jack-o-lanterns went in a cloth shopping bag, cleverly rigged so it wouldn't flop all over the place while biking.  the strap of the bag went over my shoulder and at the base of handle straps i fixed another bunge cord and wrapped it under my other arm and then hooked it to the other strap.  not the most comfortable way to transport heavy cargo, but it worked!  the bungee cord was tight and made my arms feel a little numb, but nothing i couldn't bear with.  also the large pumpkins in the bag kep flopping in front of my leg which made pedalling difficult but not impossible.  point is, I did it!

so "why" is probably the question forming in all of your minds, dear reader and the answer is because i hate to see anything wasted.  Pumpkins, squash, melons and pretty much all cucurbitacea are heavy feeders, and require massive amounts of water and fertilizer to grow their gargantuan fruits

my whole collection of rescued pumpkins

why should this just go in the trash when its perfectly edible?  Jack-o-lantern varieties for sure, do not taste good.  they have been selectively bred to favor a large overall size and thin skins to make them easier to carve.  the flesh of these pumpkins are watery and insipid, but by no means inedible; the seeds at any rate, are an excellent snack.  However many of the 'ornamental' pumpkins are heirloom varieties bred for eating, and have no business in the trash

one of the Jarrahdales i reclaimed weighed 9.75 pounds, and though difficult to carve, yielded a sweet and firm flesh, with a summery aroma and a light buttery taste.  and that dear reader, shall be the subject of my subsequent entries:  how to deal with carving cooking an eating a nearly 10 pound vegetable

thank you for reading :)