Pumpkins Pumpkins Everywhere

It's that time of year again when the lure of that fantastically rustic-looking pumpkin is far too hard to resist. Doorsteps are spattered with various shades of orange, white, and green, and decisions are made on whether to carve or not to carve. Whilst we don't currently have any pumpkins available at the farm, (we don't actually have any growing beds yet either, but shh, don't tell anyone), we have big plans for next October, so make sure to come back next year.

What do we do with these pumpkin guts? Is the question we ask ourselves every year because creating all of that waste feels intolerable. Well, I'll share my secret with you. A few years ago, I wanted to find a pumpkin recipe that wasn't your standard pumpkin soup (however delicious it is).

I've always been one for sweet treats, and I love to bake, so I looked for a cake recipe. I was picturing a carrot cake type of thing, something nice and easy that can be done in a tray and sliced. Luckily, Sally's Baking came up with the goods: https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/best-pumpkin-cake/#tasty-recipes-67484

This delicious recipe produces a moist and perfectly balanced spiced cake with the balance of a cream cheese topping you'll want to pile higher and higher with each serving.

You can either purchase pumpkin spice, (which isn't easy to find here in the UK), or whip up a batch yourself using her accompanying recipe. You'll find yourself adding it to everything, my personal favourite being in a chocolate mug cake: https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/pumpkin-pie-spice/#tasty-recipes-106809

So, now that you know what to do with the pumpkin guts, you can move on to the fun part: the seed harvesting! You'll want to wash the seeds of the slime and pith and then leave them on a kitchen towel to dry out. Then in April, you can plant them and see what happens. Of course, some seeds may not be viable, but it's absolutely worth trying for a fun family project, and if you do get some plants, you'll be able to harvest your own pumpkins next season.

So there we have it, plenty of delights to try your hand at this spooky season!