Pumpkin Hunting

Over our Canadian thanksgiving weekend, my husband, brother and I were on our way to my mother's for thanksgiving dinner. Since it's a town over, it not only gave us an opportunity for a leisurely fall drive but a trip to a favourite farm that carries many varieties of that famous October squash: the pumpkin.

One of the reasons that I really enjoy having our Canuck Thanksgiving celebration in mid-October is because of how intensely autumn has descended upon us at that point. This year, the weekend was beautiful and bright coloured leaves were falling from the trees. Our detour took us to a childhood favourite, Strom's farm, known for their sweet corn in the summer. Strom's also provides a very large children's outdoor play area, corn maze, pick your own popping corn (right off the stalk!), a bakery, and more. Yes, you can even have your birthday celebrations there. It's located just outside of Guelph (Ontario), on Wellington rd 32, between highway's 24 and 7. I have fond memories of eating Strom's sweet corn as a young girl, when my best friend worked on their farm over the summers. Still to this day, when I bring something to my mother that says "Strom's farm" on the bag, my mother lets out a bit of an excited noise.

A plethora of smells hits you when you first get close to the farm store. Inside, they are working away to bake pumpkin pies, apple crisps, apple pies and other treats. Outside, hot apple cider is waiting for you. We bought a few kinds of pie to take back to my mother's house for thanksgiving dinner (again, she made that excited noise). I picked their pumpkin pie and happily enjoyed it that evening. I'd say it's probably my current favourite store-bought pumpkin pie. It doesn't need whipped cream, it is that good. Then again, I'm a bit of a pumpkin pie freak. I love pumpkins.

Not surprisingly, one of my favourite things about visiting Strom's in October is that there are pumpkins strewn about as far as the eye can see. Anyone can find the right Hallowe'en pumpkin here, as well as many varieties for pies and cooking. They have more types of pumpkins that I'd like to admit I even knew existed (11 types of pumpkins this year). You can go out to the fields to pick your own, or choose from the hundreds they've made available at the store. They offer gigantic pumpkins, up to 60lbs, that one year I am determined to buy and turn into an epic jack o'lantern. There are also your standard pumpkins, pie pumpkins, and other small eating-types. My favourite section is the section of "gourmet" pumpkins, in some of the oddest colours and shapes. A friend bought a pure white pumpkin there last year, perhaps a Casper variety pumpkin. This year, my husband and I picked up a Jarrahdale pumpkin, which is actually a blue coloured pumpkin that looks like a blue-grey colour. It's going to make us an excellent jack o'lantern this month (post to come...)

By the time we were done, our little wagon (provided by Strom's) was filled with pies and pumpkins. In addition to our soon-to-be-halloween-decoration, I picked up a few of the sweeter pie pumpkins to cook and keep over the next few month. I love pumpkin soup, or just a plain pumpkin mash. Mmm.... pumpkin.

For the record, this year I have managed to find two separate uses for pumpkin puree that are new to me. The first is a knock off of Starbuck's Pumpkin Spice Latte which is not only cheaper to make at home, but tastes better since it uses pure ingredients rather then chemically produced flavours. The second use, oddly enough, is feeding it to our cat. Little known fact - pumpkin puree in a cat's food helps them with constipation. I can only wonder how it helps us too ;)