Off-Grid in West Virginia

Wednesday

Linda

For the past few days Pot Hole Farm has experienced on and off rain showers.  The grey clouds have been heavy and a cold mist has settled over the peaks of the hills. In evening the gauzy white mist will swirl down into the meadows like the haunting specters of ancient ancestors who come to walk the night.  As day breaks the smokey wisps will slowly meander across the fields and up the hillsides until they disappear once more into the heavens.

Creeping Fog

Its the ideal setting for October’s ghastly promenade of ghosts and goblins.  October may have come in with the chilling dampness of a mausoleum, but the wood stove keeps everything warm and cozy inside our home.

Cozy place

Perfect for canning up the pumpkin harvest.   Yesterday, Carol came over to show me how to can the pumpkin. It’s much easier than I thought it would be. The Cushaw pumpkin is more like a squash than your ordinary pumpkin, although I think they are both in the squash family. The skin of the Cushaw is more tender and not as thick.  The meat is yellowish white instead of orange.    We cut the pumpkin in half and scraped out the seeds and fibers. Then we cut them into strips and peeled the skin. We cut the meat in one inch chunks or there a bouts and boiled them in water for two minutes.  Place the chunks into your prepared jars, cover with the liquid, seal and process in a pressure canner. Now you have pumpkin all ready to be made into pies or pumpkin bread, or whatever recipe you chose to make.

Bring on the Pie

The Cushaw pumpkin will make a more creamy pie than regular pumpkin and I can attest to the tastiness of it.   Carol and I did up four quarts yesterday. Each quart should make two pies. Today I canned nine pints. One pie at a time will be enough for us unless we have a crowd over for dessert.  I also spread out some of the seeds on a screen to dry out. Once dry they can be put into jars or zip lock bags and stored in the freezer for next years crop. The chickens went wild over the left over seeds and scraps.    So when the ghosties are roaming about on these chilly October evenings, we’ll be snuggled up by the fire with a heavenly cup of coffee and a slice of divine pumpkin pie.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 6th, 2010 at 5:10 pm and is filed under Alternative Energy, Green, Homesteading, Off-Grid, Self-Sufficiency, Solar-Powered. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.