Gourds!

I have never eaten many or cooked much with gourds. I found the focus on them in a 3 sisters garden to be somewhat odd. They last a long time, but what does a modern mom really do with them besides pumpkin pie?

Enter the Sioux Chef book and Recovering our Ancestor's Gardens. Since my gardening efforts are focused on sustainable farming for my family, and I live in a rather difficult to farm environment, I was wondering how to produce and store vegetables and staples without massive amounts of water. Wheat and oats and barley are not likely to grow well. The Native Americans lived in these marginal areas for thousands of years (although they didn't farm here, just hunted and passed through).

Anyway, as a staple, squash and pumpkins (yes, I know they are a type of squash), were dried and ground into a flour! There is some focus on squash flour as a keto ingredient, but it's a start. So, this year I tried squash and pumpkins and actually got a decent return! Eight plants outside, and 2 in the green house. I got 2 tiny pumpkins from outside, I got 3 squash and 12 pumpkins in the small greenhouse! I do not think this is an adequate return for the precious greenhouse space that is used, but I am excited none the less. All of these will be dried and ground into flour. Follow-up posts will include how we use it. So far I think Maggie will make fried chicken, and I will make pie crusts. Maybe try the corn bread with squash flour.

Next year, I will start a few Musquee de Provence, and 1 will go in the greenhouse. The rest need to go outside. Butternut squash and sugar pie pumpkins with some blue corn and kidney beans. I will need plastic to cover them so they get a better start though, I think that is what I missed this year. Getting an outdoor 3 sisters garden would be ideal. I hope to document creation of the area in future posts, but here is the idea... a reverse hugelkultur. So this winter I need to dig some trenches, maybe 3 feet deep. Sticks in the bottom, then a log, then mulch, and then soil, covered with more mulch. Not a big area to start, but we will see.