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Livin' Off The Land

Every now and again, I feel a certain kinship to the folk from "Little House on the Prairie".  Over the years I've experimented in all sorts of ways with gardening, canning, cooking, baking, sewing and all those other many little duties of a Stay At Home Mom. 

Yesterday and today, I had yet another first.  Having made pumpkin pies for years, I was excited to once again be coming to the pie season as Thanksgiving creeps up on us.  I would always use pumpkin from the can....always.  It makes good pie.  We all enjoy it.

However, having bought pie pumpkins this year, I decided to cook them up, puree them like baby food, and make my very first "made from scratch" pumpkin pie.  As I dug out the pulp and seeds, (saving the seeds for roasting), steamed the chunks of pumpkin, removed the skin, then pureed the pumpkin into a creamy yellow mix, I felt a sincere, "waste not, want not," attitude come over me.  Only the stringy pulp and skin was thrown out. 

I made at least 15 cups of pumpkin puree, using only 3 small pie pumpkins. (Isn't that color amazing?) I decided to freeze the extra for anytime that we are craving some pumpkin pie, or pumpkin muffins or pumpkin bread.

As I opened my freezer, I noticed a trend in there.  I've got bags of apples frozen from our apple picking adventure ready for apple pies.  I've got bags of raspberries the kids collected all summer from the backyard in there too, hopefully I figure out how make jam with those.  I've also got a few bags of tomatoes in there, extras from the garden, blanched, all ready for some spaghetti or lasagna sauce.  Now, I've added these pumpkin bags for future use.  Living near a big city has turned me into a farmer.

I tell you, I have come to absolutely LOVE livin' off the land.  Not that I am ready to swear off electricity as my beloved deep freezer holds all my homemade treasures, but I certainly understand the appeal of a more simplistic, homemade living.  Everything just tastes better, looks better, and makes me feel better, healthier, more aware of how things are made.  And in the process, my children get a bird's eye view of what all goes into the food they eat, where it comes from and why less processed food is healthier for them.

Excuse me, I better go, I have an indescribable urge to bake bread. 
To all you Farmers out there, I salute you!
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Leanne said…
WOW!!! You are a regular Martha Stewart, ma'am!!! ;)

I love that you did this! So cool. I'm right there with you for alot of the goodies in the freezer, but I have never been brave enough to do the whole pumpkin puree thing. LOVE the color - and I bet those pies are going to be DELICIOUS!!! Ooooo!
November 8, 2010 at 11:03 AM
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