Roasting Squash and Pumpkin Seeds

How to Roast Squash and Pumpkin Seeds

October/November 2011
http://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/roast-pumpkin-seeds-zmrz11zalt.aspx By Tabitha Alterman

Enlarge Image For a super snack, roast the seeds from your pumpkins and winter squash. PHOTO: TIM NAUMAN/WWW.TIMNAUMAN.COM

Pumpkin and squash seeds are loaded with protein and fiber, and they make a great energy-boosting snack or crunchy addition to many meals. Save these delicious and nutritious seeds from ending up in the compost heap in five easy steps.
Step 1: Soak
Scoop out the seed mass of the squash or pumpkin, and rinse the seeds in a strainer under running water. Don’t worry about getting all of the pulp off, because soaking them for a while will make it easier to rub the pulp off later. Allow the seeds to soak in a bowl of brine (half a teaspoon of kosher salt per cup of water) for a few hours.
Step 2: Rinse and Dry
Rinse the seeds in a strainer again, rubbing them between your fingers to loosen any remaining pulp. Scatter the seeds on a clean towel to dry for a few hours, or until they are dry to the touch.
Step 3: Season
Use whatever sounds yummy. Sweet and savory both work — be creative. First, toss the seeds with a little honey or oil to add flavor and help your seasonings stick. Try these tasty combos:
Sweet: honey, cinnamon, sugar
Spicy: olive oil, cayenne pepper, smoked paprika, salt, pepper
Zingy: peanut oil, soy sauce, crumbled seaweed, ground ginger, spicy red chili sauce
Addictive: melted butter, thin slices of garlic, coarse sea salt
Step 4: Roast
Place the seeds in a baking dish and roast at 300 degrees Fahrenheit for about 10 to 15 minutes, tossing them around once or twice. They’ll be done when they’re golden, and they’ll become crunchier as they cool.
Step 5: Eat Up!
Try sweet seeds as a topping on yogurt or applesauce, and savory seeds on soups and salads. When eating the roasted seeds as a snack, you can bite off the pointed tip to crack the shell and enjoy the tasty inner seed meat.

Gem Glass Corn

  from:http://www.savvyhousekeeping.com/category/gardening/

Glass Gem Corn

Filed under: Gardening — Savvy Housekeeper at 7:07 am on Monday, May 14, 2012

Check out this amazing Glass Gem Corn from Seed Trust. According to the site:

Seedsman Greg Schoen got the seed from Carl Barnes, a part-Cherokee man, now in his 80’s, in Oklahoma. He was Greg’s “corn-teacher”. Greg was in the process of moving last year and wanted someone else to store and protect some of his seeds. He left samples of several corn varieties, including glass gem. I grew out a small handful this past summer just to see. The rest, as they say is history. I got so excited, I posted a picture on Facebook. We have never seen anything like this. Unfortunately, we did not grow out enough to sell.

Two more pictures:


Does not look real, does it? Let’s hope there are seeds available for sale soon.

Growing Pumpkins - from Mother Earth News

Pete's Pumpkin Patch

September/October 1985
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Nature-Community/1985-09-01/Grow-Pumpkins-For-Profit.aspx By Pete Johnson

Mother's Children
I have a booming pumpkin business. I grow pumpkins and sell them in the month of October. I started my venture three years ago in a 3,000-square-foot area, and now I'm planting one three times as big!
Every year my dad and I till up a field and dig holes where each plant hill is going to be. The hills are spaced anywhere from four to twelve feet apart, depending on the variety of pumpkin. We put a shovelful of cow manure in each hole (thanks to our local dairy farm). We also put in a few cups of organic fertilizer: cottonseed meal, lime, rock phosphate, ashes, and kelp meal. Then we mix it all together with soil.
After that I plant three or four seeds in each hill. After the pumpkins sprout, I transplant and thin as needed to make sure there are two or three plants in each hill. The young plants need a lot of water after being transplanted, so I really soak them. I also weed thoroughly.
A few weeks later the plants will probably need another watering. That takes a long time. My sister Danika weeds and waters with me. I pay her depending upon how much money I make. (This year she worked 20 hours and I paid her $25. Danika also grew gourds and sold them—she made $75 from her gourds!)
The next job with the pumpkins is mulching. My whole family helps with this job—all six of us. We spread spoiled hay under all the vines and in the open places to keep the ground moist and control weeds. The best thing to do after mulching on a hot afternoon is to go for a swim!
For the rest of the summer all I have to do is water the pumpkins and watch them get ripe. You can actually see them getting bigger and bigger every day!
This year I grew three varieties of pumpkins. The Spirit hybrid semibush variety produced nice, medium-sized pumpkins. I also grew some Connecticut Field pumpkins. They make big, orange, pretty pumpkins and are my favorite variety. And I grew some Small Sugars, a sweet pumpkin that weighs between three and seven pounds.
The selling of my pumpkins starts around October 8. I set up a stand that consists of hay bales and a little table made of sawhorses and a piece of plywood. I put 20 to 25 bales on the ground and then place my pumpkins on top of them and on the ground around them. I weigh the pumpkins on a baby scale and mark the price on each one with a black crayon. I sell them for 8¢ a pound. Next year I'm going to raise the price because they are the cheapest and best pumpkins in town!
Every year I place an ad in the local newspaper. It seems to bring many customers. Also, this year we made little signs to put in store windows. Two years ago my dad made me a sign to put by our driveway. It says Pete's Pumpkins, 8¢ a Pound. Many people just see the sign and drive in to take a look. They end up buying a few pumpkins, too. (When no one's at the stand, people serve themselves and put the money in a jar.)
Selling the pumpkins is really time-consuming. On a busy day I spend most of the afternoon by the stand helping customers. One day was so busy that I made $120!
My pumpkin financial arrangements work out like this. Each year I pay for seeds, gas for the tiller, organic fertilizer, advertising, and any labor that I hire. All that added up to $45 this year. My sales totaled $610, so I ended up with $565 net profit.
I have doubled my sales every year. The first year I made $150. The second year I made $300, and this year I made $610. My total earnings from all three years topped $1,000!
I have really enjoyed growing and selling pumpkins. I make more money than some kids who work a lot longer than I do. I also set my own hours. Besides, it's fun!
By the way, if you decide to start growing and selling pumpkins yourself, please don't do it too close to Whidbey Island, Washington. I don't need any competition!

Home Made Graham Crackers

~from Martha Stewart

Once you taste one of these sweet whole wheat crackers, you may never go back to the store-bought variety again. Use them as the base for homemade s'mores, sandwich them with peanut butter, or simply enjoy them on their own.

Ingredients

Makes 20

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for working
• 1 cup whole-wheat flour
• 1/2 cup untoasted wheat germ
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened (2 sticks)
• 3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons high-quality honey

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk flours, wheat germ, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon in a medium bowl; set aside.
2. Put butter, brown sugar, and honey into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Reduce speed to low. Add the flour mixture, and mix until combined.
3. Turn out dough onto a floured surface, and divide into quarters. Roll out each piece between 2 sheets of floured parchment paper into rectangles a bit larger than 9 by 6 inches, about 1/8 inch thick.
4. Using a fluted pastry wheel, trip the outermost edges or each rectangle, and divide into three 6 by 3-inch rectangles. Pressing lightly, so as not to cut all the way through, score each piece in half lengthwise and crosswise, to form four 3 by 1 1/2-inch crackers. Stack parchment and dough on a baking sheet and chill in freezer until firm, about 20 minutes.
5. Remove two sheets of dough from freezer. Pierce crackers using the tines of a fork. Transfer to large baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake, rotating halfway through, until dark golden brown, 8 to 9 minutes. Repeat with remaining dough. Let cool on sheet 5 minutes; transfer crackers to wire racks to cool completely.

Helpful Hint

Crackers can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days.

Grow Your Own Popcorn

http://www.flickr.com/photos/zanastardust/387120303/

Some of our friends and even a few relatives have had their family/kids/teenagers put up some resistance to gardening. The concept of growing their own popcorn may be just exciting enough to get them started.

Most of us have only seen popcorn in a bag or jar at the grocery store. Even gardeners who grow sweet corn may have never thought about trying to grow one of America's favorite snacking foods: popcorn. Aside from the traditional yellow color, popcorn kernels can come in blue, white and red, as well. But before you pick a variety of popcorn to plant, find out your area's growing season matches that of the popcorn variety as it takes longer to mature than sweet corn. Popcorn has more starch in it than sweet corn and although their growing needs are the same, it's the harvesting that makes the difference.

• Add compost or composted manure to the garden bed where the popcorn will be planted. Corn is a warm-weather, needy crop that requires plenty of water combined with rich soil. Another good idea is to add a fertilizer that's high in nitrogen to apply right after you have planted the seeds.

• Plant popcorn seeds directly into the garden bed 1 ½ to 2 inches deep and about a foot in between each other. The corn rows should be about 8 inches apart. If the corn is planted any closer together, you will harvest fewer ears as they won't be as filled out as corn that has plenty of room to grow. You can also start your bed from seedlings. However, keep in mind that popcorn seedlings will be harder to locate at a local nursery.

• The silks of the corn are the female flowers and the tassels are the male flowers. Corn depends upon the wind for pollination, therefore it should be planted in blocks of at least 4 by 4 feet.
  

• Generously water your corn bed from planting day all the way until harvest time. If during the growing season, the lower leaves start to become yellow, give them another shot of nitrogen. Add soil amendments whenever you can as corn is a very heavy feeder.

• If you live in a windy area, the corn may need to have a wind break placed around them or stakes to help hold the corn upright as they have notoriously shallow roots systems.
  

• When the husks have dried and the kernels are plump, shiny, and full of color, harvest the ears off of the stalks. Take the husks off of the corn and lay the corn out in a well-ventilated and cool area. Leave them there for a month or more.

• Popcorn kernels pop because of the moisture content and this is controlled by the curing process.
  

• Take off some of the kernels and test-pop them. If you are happy with how they popped, remove all of the corn kernels from the cobs and store them in glass or ceramic containers. If the popping action is weak, there's still too much moisture in the kernels. Test pop again every couple of days because the kernels can actually become too dry.

By eHow Contributor, Chris McLaunglin

How to Grow Your Own Popcorn

Types of Popcorn Seeds

Popcorn is a favorite of every American household. Surprisingly, there are many different types of popcorn seeds on the market; they come in a unique variety of colors, flavors and sizes, which makes it easy to eat this healthy, fiber-filled snack everyday.

Yellow

1. Yellow popcorn is the most popular brand throughout the United States. It is the largest when popped, and is the cheapest available.

Red

2. Red popcorn has a small kernel that expands to a rather large piece of popcorn, and tends to have a nutty flavor.

White

3. White popcorn is large and fluffy when popped, and tastes mildly like corn.

Blue

4. Blue popcorn has a unique flavor and pops into large, white kernels with blue speckles.

Baby Rice

5. Baby Rice popcorn is a very flavorful, hull-less popcorn with small, tender kernels.

Black 

6. Black popcorn has a very crunchy, medium sized kernel. Although the un-popped kernel is black, it becomes very white when popped.

By eHow Contributor V. L. Hamblin

Popcorn Seeds