Back on the 10th of June the boys and I finally planted the pumpkin seeds I've had for almost a year. I bought them last year after reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingslover, but didn't realize until they got to me that it was too late to plant them.
So I worked for a week getting the soil ready in a patch behind the tree/sandbox. I don't think I've ever sweat so much in my entire life. But it was good work, and brought back fond memories of mud pie making as a child (we had cherry and peach trees plus a grape vine, so they were actually semi-edible!).
Winston helped me dig the little trenches and push in the stakes to mark the rows. We planted the seeds together, his little hands so big that in the pictures it's hard for me to tell us apart.
All of this happened on the second day of Summer Camp with Wednesday playing close by in the sandbox. I wanted the pumpkins to grow with the boys this summer.
We came in all hot and disgusting, me knowing full well I wouldn't have time for a shower until AFTER I took Winston to camp the next morning. I'm sure I was beautiful that Wed. I had The Mr. look at his calendar, which lists famous people's birthdays for almost every day of the year. It was really kind of strange what came up. June 10th in Maurice Sendack's birthday. The man who wrote Where the Wild Things Are. Last year I was reading Barbara Kinglover's book all through the Halloween/Fall season when I ordered the pumpkin seeds.
Last Halloween, after much thought and lots of planning, Winston and I decided he would be a Wild Thing for Halloween. More specifically the one with the striped fur and horns. So the seeds that I bought last year when Winston was a Wild Thing were planted on Maurice Sendack birthday. And of course, Wednesday's costume for his first Halloween last year was....
a sprout!
It's so funny how the universe can put things in order like that. The pumpkins sprouted on Fathers' Day and started to put out vines on Independence Day. I think they are some very smart pumpkins...
2 comments:
Where the Wild Things Are is one of my all-time favorite books. I love Max.
Happy pumpkin-growing! What do you plan to do with the pumpkins once they're ready to harvest? I've never been really adept at cooking with live actual pumpkin, and usually end up using canned.
We plan to do a lot of decorating with them. Carving, painting, arranging outside, and giving to friends. As far as cooking goes, I'm thinking maybe a soup inside the pumpkins (Barbara Kinglover's Animal, Veggie, Miracle)? Or for the little small ones (Sequoias) Maybe I could just stuff them like peppers/zuchini? Then just roasting them and scooping out the yummy, and hoepfully saving some of it for sweet treats and breads. We'll see! It will be an experiment!
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