The Pumpkin Collector
A pickup load of pumpkins and gourds await their grim future.
Like many people, I love fall decorations. Especially pumpkins and gourds.
It seems that almost every house in my home town has them arranged on their front porch, adding bright color to an already colorful season. But after Thanksgiving, all those pretty pumpkins and gourds wind up on the curb for the city yard waste pick up.
That is where I came into the picture. I snatched all those beauties and saved them from rotting away at the yard waste dump site. I made sure to have the widest variety I could possibly find.
I piled them in my old rusty, trusty Ford Ranger and delivered them to my little acreage. Since I do not know the name of every variety, I assigned each type of pumpkin and gourd a letter name (A,B,C,D...). I took a photo once they were marked with their identification letter.
Pumpkin B in its pre-execution photo.
Then I sliced them open redneck-samurai-style with a machete. I then collected a number of seeds from each variety and placed them in a compartmentalized storage tray, being sure to keep the alphabetical order going.
I will allow these seeds to dry for long-term storage. I left all the pumpkin and gourd remains on the ground, which will be an incredible food source for all the wildlife.
The carnage left behind.
It is my plan (if God allows) to plant some of these seeds in the spring and begin growing my own fall decorations (and possibly food). I also have two friends with 80 and 200-acre farms that are interested in growing pumpkins and gourds. It is far better to grow my own than pay over three dollars apiece for them in September.
Thanks for checking out my post! I appreciate it.
Signed,
The Pumpkin Collector
What a fabulous Idea well done you :)
Thank you!
Maybe I will be a commercial pumpkin farmer soon! Who knows.
Not bad from free pumpkins and feeding the wildlife, I think it's brilliant :)
Thanks!!
Great idea. Thanks for showing how you organize all your seeds and leave the pumpkin remains for the wild. I never new. City folk with a country heart.
I'm a country boy temporarily living in town :)
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Thank you very much. Definitely following!
That's too bad that people just don't know how to enjoy some of those squash! I know some in your picture are gourds. But, that "B" is a great winter squash! I'm sure the animals enjoyed the next few nights! Good job on being an opportunistic gardener, too! I look forward to seeing what those seeds produce. You should have a lot of squash on your hands! :D
I wasn't even aware "B" was a squash. I wondered how many of these are edible for human consumption. Without being educated on each variety I didn't want to risk getting sick.
Thanks for replying!
I think the only gourds I see are those little striped ones in the bucket, the long-necked one in the other bucket, and maybe the warty yellow one in the same bucket. The rest I would say are worth trying to eat. I don't say that to criticize you not eating them -- but to say it might be worth trying to eat some of the ones you plant next year! You have a real resource on your hands with all those seeds!
Yes, even the seeds are great toasted. I have only tried pumpkin seeds, I guess. I would do my research before I would accidentally poison myself and family. It will be interesting to see how my crop turns out next September. Thanks for commenting!
You will have time to get to know all your squash and gourds as you grow them next year. Good luck with them!
Thanks! I just had one of the city workers drop off a really interesting squash on my front porch. I will add it to my collection!
Glad to hear your town is thinking of you as the 'squash man', lol. Now they will be an easy market for selling your squash next year! :D