The Beauty of Squash!

  It is my longstanding habit of rising before the sun and starting the day with a trip to the pier then back to the gardens.  This is a throwback to my childhood when I was either fishing with Pop or hoeing weeds with him during the early morning hours.  He instilled the love of both in me and I carry that with me to this day.  Fishing and farming!

  This morning as I was tending the garden, a thought occurred.  Why are squash plants not considered to be "flower-garden worthy"?  The broad leaves of the plant are just as showy as any hosta and the blooms can top just about any lily.  The plants are beautiful and also produce supper!  What more could you ask?  I knelt in the soft dirt to get a really good look at the squash bloom and was greeted by a number of tiny bumblebees as they gathered the pollen.  It seems that those and the honeybees fully appreciate the squash plants!  

  Squash are separated into two categories...summer squash and winter squash.  Zucchini, yellow crook neck and pattypan are types of summer squash and butternut, acorn and pumpkins are winter squash.  A lot of folks think that "winter" squash are planted in the cooler months but this is not so.  They are called that simply because they have tougher skins and can be stored for a long time during winter.  While it is not that common today, years back, folks harvested the winter squash and stored them for use during the cold months when it was hard to have a garden.  The tough skins kept the squash from rotting or becoming dried.  This provided food when times were lean.  I still overwinter a basket of butternut squash in the back room and pumpkins wherever I find a place to put them!  They last just fine and provide many a meal when the garden is planted with winter crops.  That, my friends, is the beauty of squash...other than their fine leaves and lovely blooms!

Decorating with lights!

Lately, I have been hearing a lot of folks make loud declarations against anyone who puts up their Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving.  I figure like this.  If I want to decorate for Christmas in July, it is nobody's business but my own!  I, personally, love Christmas!  I love the spirit of the entire season!  I love how everyone is nicer, friendlier, calmer during the few weeks of Christmas.  So if I can extend all of that human goodwill, then, hey, why not?  Maybe extending the holidays a bit would do the world a tiny bit of good.  Peace on Earth and Goodwill toward men should be year round and not for twelve days in December.  But, go figure.  You cannot extend it at the end of the season as that would run slap into the New Year when we are all about making those resolutions that none of us ever intend to keep.  Lets just start Christmas in July and include all the holidays between the Fourth of July and New Year's Day in the Christmas holidays!  When you think about it..for six months, folks will be calling out "Be of good cheer!", "Have a wonderful day!" or "Peace be with you!" and actually mean it!  Now that, my dear friends, could never be wrong!

Still, I must admit that other than the tiny cedar tree in honor of the new grandbaby, the Little Bayou House is devoid of decorations.  This makes me a bit sad.  For one reason or another, the decorating has been postponed time after time until here it is the end of November and still no tree graces the living room!  Egads!  This will never do!  When the kids were younger and still at home, we decorated when we felt like it.  One year when my daughter was ill, we put up the Christmas tree on Halloween night simply because she asked.  It was fun!  We were making memories!

Today, Michael put up some the Christmas lights.  Or, perhaps I should say, he put down some of the lights.  After a stormy night on the Bayou, the weather is supposed to turn cooler.  The freezing temperatures might hold off for one more night but Ole Jack Frost just might pay a visit.  In preparation for the drop in temperature, we put the window panes back on the hotbed that houses the yellow squash plants.  Not satisfied that the glass would hold enough heat, Michael pulled out two long, long strands of lights.  Now my squash plants are surrounded in tiny, white lights! The lights put out enough heat when under the plants to warm them and keep them from feeling the effects of the pending frost.  My hotbed is decorated for Christmas!  I guess it is a start...and I do love yellow squash!

I do plan on decorating as soon as my daughter gets here.  Elizabeth always has a special knack for knowing just where things should go!  I love Christmas!  I love colored lights on the tree!  I love manger scenes, Baby Jesus and angels!  I love Santa and elves!  I love stockings hung by the chimney with care!  I love the carols, the holly berries, the scent of evergreen, the garland, red bows and ornaments!  I love Christmas!  Peace on Earth and Goodwill toward men..Merry Christmas!...oh, and Happy Thanksgiving, Happy Hanukkah and Happy Winter Solstice! (And any other wonderful day to celebrate in between!)  Put up those decorations even if they are only to keep those plants from freezing...and be happy doing it!

How does your garden grow?

While a good bit of the country is welcoming winter, here on the Bayou, I am welcoming the fall garden.  Michael and I were out cutting firewood today in preparation of cold weather to come, when I noticed that our yellow squash were blooming.  The bright orange blossoms were a welcome sight as I had no idea if we could pull another planting this late in the season.  When we planted the mustard greens, turnips, carrots and beets, we threw in two rows of squash on a whim.  If an early frost came, we would have just planted the chard in the rows.  Now, however, I am thankful that we opted for those squash!  It will be a delightful treat to have those and some lovely mustard greens on our Thanksgiving table in a few weeks!

We have had to move the main garden plot this year as the over abundance of rabbits on the hillside made it impossible to grow anything.  They would nibble things to the ground as soon as any green started to show in the rows.  Now, the main garden is inside the fenced area and is growing in leaps and bounds.  Here, too, Ms. Ez can guard the plants from any marauding squirrels that like to dig in the fresh dirt.  If something does not change soon about all of those critters, we may just have to expand the fenced area to include more vegetable plots and a few fruit trees.

True, we may not be able to keep these plants from freezing if Mother Nature does not cooperate but it is nice to think that at least a few fresh vegetables may see their way to our table.  Just in case a sudden frost is predicted to hit the Bayou, Michael has already devised a way to protect the tender plants.  Some old windows will be used to "tent" the squash and hopefully ward off the cold.  Fresh yellow squash for Thanksgiving!  Yep, sure sounds good!  It really is good to live on the Bayou!

Do I hear a "Volunteer"?

Most seeds nowadays are hybrids and I have always heard that it is impossible to save seeds from one year to the next if you want a good crop.  The thought was that the hybrid seeds would never produce after the first year.  Well..I have news for you!  Last year, several "volunteer" yellow squash came up in the Rose Garden of all places.  I think this happened because Sunny, the foster pup, ate a lot of tough squash in that area.  She loved to chew on the old squash and I was grateful for a bit of the calmness that the hard veggies brought her.  Anyway, last summer those squash did well at providing us with a good many meals!  As usual, any of the squash that were missed during harvesting turned hard and dry.  When I would occasionally find one like this, I would just toss it under the plant to mulch.  Evidently, a few of those seeds decided to be fertile!

Earlier this spring when Michael was moving the Rose Garden fence, I salvaged a few more "volunteer" squash plants.  Since no garden area was ready to receive these plants, I stuck them in any container I could find handy.  One such container was an old shrimp bin from the local factory.  This plastic crate is about three feet in length and maybe twenty inches wide.  The plants did well and grew quickly.  I had good intentions of transplanting them once again into the garden but procrastination overruled and I never did.  Today, I noticed that these squash were doing great!  There were several blooms and even tiny squash on the plants!  I am excited about this as now I know that I can save the seeds for future use.  It is getting hard to find healthy seeds at the stores plus, some seeds have been treated with insecticides.  Treated seeds are not what I want in my garden!  I have no use for that many added chemicals in my produce!  A few of the larger squash on these plants will be allowed to ripen fully on the plant and the seeds will be dried for next spring's planting.  I already do this with the butternut squash, tomato and pepper seeds so having yellow squash added to the seed stock will be great!

Being a seed-saver means a lot to me.  By doing this, I know the quality of the seeds and also know just how the seeds have been handled.  With purchased seeds, one can never be too sure of what has been added that may potentially be passed on through the next crop.  Call me over-leery but I worry about poisoning my body with unnecessary things.  Plus!  All of this seed-saving sure helps the wallet stay a bit fatter! With the prices of gardening essentials skyrocketing, every little bit helps.  Seed-saving, composting and upcycling can make a big difference!