Steve Mills and his wife have one daughter. They previously owned two coffee/ice cream shops, currently operate an internet sales company and teach classes, but his primary job involves the paper industry worldwide. Hobbies and interests lie in gardening, photography, recorded music and of course, their pets.

Need help finding a kitchen for about 50 Long Island Cheese pumpkins.

Posted Wednesday, November 7, 2018, at 9:01 PM

For the longest time I thought these were called squash, but when I researched where the seeds came from I see they are considered pumpkins. So what is the difference? Not much since they are all in the cucurbitaceae family.

The simplest way to describe the flavor and texture of this squash/pumpkin is like a butternut squash with pumpkin overtones. Hmmm, that wasn't very simple, but........ maybe a few friends to whom I have already shared some would like to chime in, or not. :-)

Either way, I have a bunch to disperse or let go to waste. No way can I cook all of them, so how about a soup kitchen, church or even individuals who want to put away some of these for soup, pie, casseroles or whatever other creative ways they can be used? I could load them in the truck and meet you in Bell Buckle.

All of these, plus about 15-20 more came from a few volunteers that grew this year in my neglected garden. I tilled the garden three times this Spring, THINKING I was going to have a garden, but it never materialized. Instead, these and a few cherry tomatoes survived the tillings and grew alongside a great crop of weeds.

No weeding, no fertilizing, no insecticides, no watering, no nuthin' and the last time I intentionally planted these were two years ago. Last year a few other varieties popped up in the unintentional garden, but this year these are the only ones to come back. Even the gourds decided to stay away, or maybe the tilling got them when they were starting to sprout. These obviously germinated later.

If you look closely you will see a few that still have a tinge of green. I believe those are fine, but the seeds may not be viable for planting. The seasoned ones though should provide gardens for many years to come. In fact, I intend to hold one of the green ones to see how they cook up. I already have a few over-ripe left in the garden, so I have seeds in case I want to unintentionally grow them again. :-0

Read more about them here https://www.rareseeds.com/long-island-cheese-pumpk/ This is also where they came from originally. Oh yes, there should be a contact email on the information about me as a blogger. If not, tell me here and I will share one.