The Plant I Didn't Have Space For

There was one thing I wanted to grow last year that I didn't have enough space for. I wanted to grow pumpkins. Something about growing the popular big orange winter squash for decorating and eating is really satisfying. Unfortunately, pumpkin vines take up an awful lot of space... Oh well. When I was eighteen, my younger sister and I both tried to grow the largest pumpkin for the Los Angeles County Fair biggest pumpkin competition. Her pumpkin was 3 inches bigger around. Mine was 2 pounds heavier. I won the competition because they measured by weight. She was really annoyed!

So this past fall, in between work and medic precepting shifts, I grabbed my roommate and a couple friends I know from the fire station and we took advantage of having local pumpkin farms.

I've never really been into pumpkin carving. I prefer to cook and puree the pumpkin so I can eat it.  But I was doing a favor for a friend at another volunteer rescue squad in my county and each crew gets an pumpkin to carve for a in-station competition. The other medic and I put our heads together and the result was a pumpkin with a Second Degree Type I heart block.

A Second Degree Type I heart block is characterized by increasing distance between the P-wave (the first small bump) and the QRS complex (the big up & down one) until there is a missed beat. I ended up carving a shallow 1/4in wide line in the outside of the pumpkin and then filling it with coffee grounds to make it easily visible.

I still had six pumpkins to use back at home. I've made lots of pumpkin pie but since I had never made pumpkin bread before and none of my cookbooks had a recipe, I looked online and found this wonderful one: 

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/downeast-maine-pumpkin-bread/detail.aspx

Downeast Maine Pumpkin Bread Rated: Submitted By: Laurie Bennett Photo By: DetectiveL Prep Time: 15 Minutes Cook Time: 50 Minutes Ready In: 1 Hour 5 Minutes Servings: 24 "The classic moist pumpkin bread from Down East is spiced with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves. This bread improves with age, so plan to make it a day ahead if possible." INGREDIENTS: 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree 4 eggs 1 cup vegetable oil 2/3 cup water 3 cups white sugar 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking soda 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger DIRECTIONS: 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour three 7x3 inch loaf pans. 2. In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water and sugar until well blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Pour into the prepared pans. 3. Bake for about 50 minutes in the preheated oven. Loaves are done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2014 Allrecipes.com Printed from Allrecipes.com 2/1/2014

I made it as directed except for replacing half the oil with applesauce and using 8"x4" bread pans. It turned out very well and I ended up making a big batch and giving it as Christmas presents.

I don't have a plan for this year's garden drawn up yet, but I'm not planning on having a space for a pumpkin vine. It's more cost effective to grow tomatoes, cucumbers and zucchini.