The Monster Bushes

Have you ever bought a few bushes for your yard only to find that the plant information was misleading? We did. I have decided that when they said the bush would not exceed 3 feet in height that they meant it would not grow more then 3 feet a month. That would better explain the monster bushes that we planted under our front living room window. Many visitors to our house June through October do not even know we have a front window.  Sometime I forget, and I live here!

So every Autumn I head out front with newly sharpened sheers and attack the monster bushes, a job that takes several hours of the course of a couple of days. The bushes have to be cut. The branches have to be cut up and put in the bags to be collected on Monday afternoon.

As with all things it would go faster if I did it on my own and sent Cowboy off to play elsewhere or put him in front of the TV. I choose not to do this because I believe that he is always learning and I want him to learn that fun or not, some things have to be done. I do not want him to learn that he can sit ideally by and not part take in life. I want him to understand that maintaining a home is something that has to be done and is not something that magically gets done. He learns this by watching and helping me. If he is not helping with the physical labor aspect of the job he is helping by keeping me company and talking to me.

Another very important lesson that he is learning is that work can be a reward. After we have mutilated cut down the bushes we are left with several long straight sticks and a lot of thin flexible branches. What does one do with all of it? Maybe it could be a fort? Hmm, just maybe. 

I took the long thick branches and stood them together and intertwined the ends and wrapped a thin flexible branch around the top. I left the rest to Cowboy. He took the rest of the discarded branches and piled them up around the edges to make the walls. He wanted more room on the inside so I climbed inside and pushed the walls out a bit. When it was all done there was enough room for both of us to sit inside and was about 4 and a half feet deep.

For the record it stood through a thunder storm, windy days and four little boys running around, climbing in, out and on it. After about a week and a half, when the leaves started to wilt and the newness wore off we took it down and bagged it up.

Acorn Squash Autumn Cake

Yesterday we went to an early Halloween party with a few friends before trick or treating. The children had a blast playing in their costumes with their friends. Every family brought a wholesome treat to share with everyone when it came time to go trick-or-treating. One family has two people with a severe dairy and soy allergy so I decided to try making cupcakes without dairy or a dairy alternative. I am not a cake fan and I normally prefer not to go through the trouble of cooking something I will only eat out of guilt of wasting food.

And wow! It was wonderful. I did not using any icing and it tasted really good without any. I am working on exercising a lot of self control to not go eat one or two for breakfast.

Acorn Squash Autumn Cake

Ingredients:
2 cups olive oil
3 cups sugar
4 eggs
3 1/3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
2 teaspoons ginger
1/2 teaspoon cloves
2/3 cup water
2 cups puree cooked acorn squash

Directions
1. Cut acorn squash in half, remove seed and bake in the oven at 350 for an hour until squash is very tender. Remove from oven and allow it to cool.

2. Scrape out the tender flesh and put in a food processor and pulse for 30 seconds or until well blended.
3. Combine all ingredients in a bowl mixing alternately with water and squash.
4. Mix well.
5. Pour into a well greased cake pan or
makes a lot of cupcakes.
6. Bake at 350 degrees for until toothpick comes out clean.

Winter Squash

Last week I bought 30 pounds of various varieties of winter squash. It is 2lbs for a dollar for the locally grown squash and I am buying now before the price goes up. I cut them in half, remove and put aside the seeds then bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until tender. I scoop out the tender flesh and dehydrate it. I then throw it into my food processor and powder it. I store it away for winter and use it as a soup base on cold winter days or I rehydrate it on the stove with a small amount of butter and honey for a tasty treat.

I really do not like to waste anything and it really bothered me to throw out the seeds. I did a quick search and found that they are edible! So I tossed the seeds with olive oil and salt and baked at 350 until they were starting to brown and pop. Yum! And so much better then pumpkins seeds.

The only disadvantage was that the jar I had set aside to store the seeds wasn’t big enough to hold all those seeds. I did not want to waste the seeds so I tossed a handful into my food processor and I mixed it in with my veggie bouillon powder and wow what a flavor! The only thing needed is more onion and that is only because I enjoy a large amount of onion in my bouillon.

This year’s varieties are:
Acorn Squash
Buttercup Squash
Butternut Squash
Delicata Squash
Carnival Squash
Kabocha Squash
Sweet Dumpling Squash