Raising Pumpkins?

one way to can pumpkin is to start by baking it to soften the rind, then cut the rind off. put the "meat" in a big, big pot, add some water and slow cook it, about four or five hours. when it gets mushy, add some spices. when it gets like apple butter consistency, put it in your jars and can it according to directions.

then, when you want pumkin pie, it's already spiced, and all you need to do is add eggs and milk. we can our extra milk, water bath, and it comes out like condensed milk, real creamy tasting.

this makes the best pumkin pie we ever had. and if you're looking at frugal recipes, this is the best for food economy.

debbie

If you get some of the old fashioned "keeping" pumpkins, ie winter squash, you don't have to worry about canning them; I grew some maxima species pumpkins (Amish Pie) last year, that I just kept in a cool place where they wouldn't freeze. I picked them in Sept./Oct., & I used the last one up on the 4th of July! Perfectly sound & tasty. (I did have one stored pumpkin go bad in June). They are pretty big, you can just fit a 1/2 of one in a really big casserole dish to bake them, but I use lots of them for the chickens & sheep, too. My Amish Pie come in both orange & green - here's a pic of them, along with some corn (Bloody Butcher).

We raise Pumpkins for retail sales,and normally put out 5-7ac.per year.On a larger scale having a market or outlet for sales is a must.The price for seeds and other inputs are pretty high if you want high quality saleable product.
After 20yrs of this I have found a system that works good for us,first in the fall say early Oct. disc the ground that the pumpkin patch is going to be in the next year and sow winter rye.Long about April turn under the winter rye,let it go until first flush of weeds.At this point when the weeds are about 2-3 in. tall (I spray a product called Honcho)I have disc it again also but spraying gives us a much cleaner field.Long about the end of May we try to get the seed in the ground.I use a JD 4 row plate type planter set up 36in row spacing,I use 36in. spacing because my cultivators are setup for this.In our case and soil conditions it takes 300lbs of fertilizer per ac.Again this is what works in our soil conditions.
In about 2 weeks after the first true leaves appear we try to cultivate and watch for bug problems.We have had problems with powdery mildew in the past so about the end of July early Aug we my have to spray for that as well.
I deal with Rupp Seeds Not the cheapest but they have good commercial support.
I sell here at the farm along with small pumpkins,gourds and indian corn,Thought about U-pick.........but still not sure that would work out for us.
I have a friend that has an "honor system" that works for him..........that may be another option....................

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Hello from The Good Earth Farm. Pumkins can be and are a good product to sell.Here are a few tips from over the years.First growing, you need fertilizer one way or another,organic or chemical get a soil sample or plan on 40# of 10 10 10 per 200 foot square of garden unless it has not been used in few years,best to get a soil test.Type to grow go big half your crop should be around 30 to 35 pounds.The other half should be 75 pound one for fall decorations. You will have less work more sales. Selling them, harvest on a hay rack and sell that way for the small ones. On the ground for the large ones around the rack.Start to sell the first weekend in Oct. so plant so they will be ripe.Where to get seeds I use Harris Seed Co. comercial growers Cat. Good luck as far as risks go and money needed, even if it fails you will not be out very much.We took the risk ten years ago and cant say it has been bad some ups and downs but we now gross enough to live on. John and Rhonda (The Good Earth Farm)

John, that's great info. Around here a big thing (like I said before) is the pick-your-own patches. The person pays for a hayride to go to the field and pick their own pumpkin and the cost includes the cost of the pumpkin OR the hayride is "free" and the person pays .xx per pound of pumpkin.

With that said, does anyone know about insurance or liability costs associated with this? We live is such a litigious society, I don't want to get sued if some one were to fall off the wagon. But i know it's a possibility

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As far as insurance, we kinda wondered taht, too, even though we have farm liability coverage already (I think $2million coverage -- worst case if someone were disabled I suppose). I am leery of having people out on the farm in a situation like that, and if we decided to do hay rides, corn maze or pumpkin patch would definitely have to talk to an agent and see what it covers, exactly.

Very interesting to use a four-row planter (of which we have one still!) to plant the pumpkins! (Not that we'd ever plant THAT many!) I'll have to pass that nugget along to DH and FIL.

John, where do you live and when do you plant to get them ripe in September October? Our garden pie pumpkins were done in August, I think.

Ann

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"In essentials, unity. In non-essentials, liberty. In all things, charity."

We have the great Pumpkin Festival every year. :haha:
My father had the first "King Pumpkin" when he was in high school. It weighed in at 75 lbs. I believe. A couple eyars ago the winner weigehd in at 908 lbs. or higher...lol
I can't remember what the largest King Pumpkin weighed in at here. Close to the world record. :haha:

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we got a Wal-Mart DC 6059, Olney IL, a HUGE distribution center for Wal-Mart stores, ever since they built the Huge freezer, I've seen many punkin farms spring up. I assume they sell by contract to Wal-Mart.