Happy Thanksgiving! From Me and My Fairytale Pumpkin

Happy Thanksgiving! From Me and My Fairytale Pumpkin
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It was spring, the May plant sale at the Rodale Institute, when I came across a pumpkin called the Fairytale Pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata). Of course I had to buy it immediately. I planted it in a bed near my driveway that's mostly ornamental but had lots of room for pumpkin plants to spread and grow -- which they tend to do. This one certainly did. I got five giant pumpkins and this one, which weighs probably 35 pounds, and which by the time you see this blog will be cooked down into pumpkin pie, with the extra frozen for pumpkin stuff all winter long.

I'm not sure yet how I'm going to cut it up -- since it seems like I'm going to need a chain saw. Actually, I saw a photo on Facebook posted by a friend I haven't seen since high school showing the same kind of pumpkin and his "butchering" attempt. He recommended you cut off one slice so that it lays flat and then chisel and mallet away.

So, in keeping with the holiday, here is what I am thankful for: gardening, the Rodale Institute, Facebook friends, nature, my cat named Pumkin (who annoys me most of the time, but who decided to pose next to this pumpkin all on her very own), FAMILY, organic food, all the people in my life who love me and even some of them who don't, YOU!

Oh, and I am also thankful for the recent news that Bruce Springsteen will be coming out with a new album (featuring Tom Morello) on January 14th, 2014!

Happy Thanksgiving!

For more from Maria Rodale, visit here

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