Due to a few bills making the month tighter than usual, I was delayed in purchasing a few heirloom squash this year. There is a local farmer who raises a broad variety of them and whenever I can, I try to buy them. Unfortunately, he only sells them for a very short period of the year.
This year, I was delayed enough that I missed that window. Still, I went there hoping to find that they still had a few in a back room somewhere. They did not. Still, I struck up a conversation with the owner and we talked for a long time about the nature of the business, the fact that so few people know what to do with squash these days and other topics of that sort.
It seems my interest and knowledge about the subject of heirloom squash impressed him. Seeing how disappointed I was about missing my chance, he gave me directions to the location where he grows his squash and full permission to take anything that had been left in the field that hadn’t gone to rot.
I expected to find two or three decent squash. What I found instead was several hundred spread over the field. Granted, most were deer-gnawed or going to rot, but among them I would say there were at least a hundred or more still in perfect condition.
Needless to say, I filled my trunk with them. All told, I left with over two dozen large heirloom squash, only a few being of the same variety. Green Hubbard, Ugly Mug, Red Kuri, Turban, and a particularly large neck squash just to name a few. Oh, and, of course, the beauty you see above.
I gave half of my bounty to a family member who I know will make good use of it and kept the rest for my own family. Needless to say, we are going to be doing a lot with squash for a long time to come. The only sad part is that the farmer has stopped growing Jumbo Pink Banana squash. Apparently there isn’t much market for them locally anymore.
That is sad to me because it has long been one of my favorite squash for making desserts. Guess I’ll have to find the space to grow my own next year. Until then, what about yourself? Do you have a favorite squash? Better still, have you got a good story about lucking into a bounty of some sort? Let me know in the comments below.
