Doug's Magic Dirt FormulaHow I Got 60 Butternut Squash From 1 Seed!

I got 60 butternut squash from ONE seed!

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My Husband, the Amazing Farmer
Our friends always laugh when they see the size and yield of the vegetables from our garden. It's simply unbelievable how much our garden produces from a single seed. This year the winning vegetable was our butternut squash. One seed yielded a plant that produced 60 butternut squash, each weighing between 2 and 4 pounds - about 200 pounds of squash in all. A few even weighed as much as 5 pounds! I used a year-old seed from a packet of Johnny's JWS 6823 PMR Organic Squash Seed.  Their website says the average yield for this seed is 4 to 5 squash per plant. I can't wait to write to them to tell them that we got 60!

I believe the secret is Doug's magic dirt formula. Since everyone always asks us, "what's in your soil", I thought I'd write this blog post. It's kind of tough to create a recipe for this since he "adds a little of this and a little of that" and deals in huge quantities, but I think this will come close.

Doug's Magic Dirt Formula

Requirements:
Wheel barrel 
Shovel

Ingredients
1 cubic foot of native soil from your yard
1 cubic foot bag of organic compost
2 pounds earthworm castings
1 cup Biochar
1 1/2 tablespoons glacial rock dust
1 tablespoon mycorrhizae

Directions
#1 - Dig up a cubic foot of soil from your yard and place it in a wheel barrel.

#2 - Add a cubic foot of organic compost to the wheel barrel and mix well.

Compost is decayed organic material such as leaves, grass, etc. which greatly enriches your soil. You can buy it or create a compost pile from your vegetable scraps.

#3 - Add earthworm castings.

This is basically worm poop and is used as a fertilizer in organic farming.

#4 - Add Biochar.

Biochar is burnt, carbonized biomass which is used as an amendment for soil to help retain water and nutrients.

.
#5 - Add glacial rock dust.

Contains a wide variety of trace minerals that replenishes the soil. Glacial rock dust is a natural product produced from glacial action taking place over thousands of years.

#6 - Mix it all together in the wheel barrel and then add to the planting area. 

#7 -Sprinkle mycorrhizae in the hole where you place your seeds or cuttings.

Mycorrhizae are fungi that form a symbiotic relationship with your plants' roots. They allow your plants to increase their ability to absorb water and nutrients from the soil. The plant provides food in the form of carbohydrates to the fungi. A match made in heaven!

Well, that's it. Sounds like a bit of trouble but the results are worth it! You will not need to fertilize your plants - this will do it all. You can double, triple, quadruple or cut this recipe in half. 

Warning: this recipe may result is lots of cooking, canning, freezing, dehydrating, and searching for friends and neighbors to take your vegetables!

Wild Rice And Aduki Bean Stuffed Acorn Squash Topped With Low Sugar Orange-Cranberry Sauce, A Great Vegan And Gluten Free Entrée For The Holidays!

Stuffed acorn squash makes an attractive holiday entrée.

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Satisfying your Thanksgiving Guests 
Entertaining is far more complicated than it used to be. Besides people avoiding meat because of ethical or health reasons, far more people are passing on wheat, dairy, nuts, soy, etc. because of food allergies. If you are having a large holiday dinner for Thanksgiving, Hanukkah or Christmas, I can almost guarantee you that one of your guests will have some kind of eating restriction or preference. 
Always ask your guests ahead of time if they have food preferences or allergies so that it doesn't come as a big surprise when they arrive at your house and say, "oh by the way, I don't eat .....". It's best to know beforehand so that you can prepare something special or even ask them to bring a dish to share. 
Here's a recipe that avoids meat and most allergens and is elegant enough for your holiday menu.

Aduki Beans
The aduki (also called azuki or adzuki) is the same bean used in red bean ice cream, commonly served in Japanese restaurants. It's a small and delicate red bean that is easier to digest than other beans with strengthening and balancing qualities. They are traditionally served at festive celebrations and are said to bring good fortune. 
I like buying them from Eden since they are organic and packed in BSP (bisphenol) free lined cans.

1/2 cup serving of Aduki beans provides:
110 calories
7 g protein
19 g carbohydrates
5 g fiber
Only 10 mg sodium
High in Iron, phosphorus, magnesium & folate

Aduki beans are small, delicate red beans.

Here's a low sugar cranberry sauce flavored with orange juice and orange zest that is a great topping for this stuffed acorn squash recipe. But it will complement any Thanksgiving meal. Make it earlier in the day so it has time to cool and thicken. Or, make it the day before and refrigerate after it cools at room temperature.

Low sugar orange-cranberry sauce
Vegan, gluten free
[makes 8 (1/4-cup) servings]

12 oz package of fresh cranberries, washed
1 cup orange juice
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
1/3 cup Sucanat or other organic cane sugar
Liquid stevia to taste for added sweetness

Heat the orange juice, zest and sugar in a small saucepan stirring until the sugar dissolves. 

Add the cranberries and bring to a boil. Reduce to medium heat and cook until all the cranberries pop and the sauce thickens (8 to 10 minutes).

Remove from the heat and add stevia a few drops at a time until it reaches the desired sweetness.  Don't add too much or it can become bitter. I usually add about 8 drops.

Let the cranberry sauce cool at room temperature. It will thicken as it cools. Store in the refrigerator.

Per serving: 66 calories, 0 g fat, 0 g cholesterol, 0 g protein, 16 g carbohydrates and 1.5 g dietary fiber and 1 mg sodium.


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Wild Rice and Aduki Bean Stuffed Acorn Squash
Vegan, gluten and lactose free
[makes 4 servings]

2 cups cooked brown and wild rice mixture
2 acorn squash, vertically cut in half, seeds removed
2 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
1 cup chopped onions
1 can no salt added aduki beans, drained and rinsed
2 tablespoons gluten free, low sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons agave nectar
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 cup low sugar cranberry sauce (see recipe above)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Cook a mixture of wild and brown rice, according to manufacturers directions, enough to yield 2 cups of cooked rice. Meanwhile, cook acorn squash.

Cut acorn squash in half and place on a cookie sheet or shallow roasting pan. Cover with foil and bake until a fork easily pierces the flesh, about 1 hour.

Cut acorn squash in half vertically

Cover with foil

While the squash is baking, heat the oil in a large sauté pan and cook the onions on medium heat until soft and slightly brown, about 5 to 8 minutes.

Add the beans, soy sauce, agave nectar and black pepper and cook for several minutes. Turn off the heat and set aside.

When the squash halves are cooked, remove them from the oven. Scoop out about half of the squash leaving the shell and about 1/2 inch of squash. Chop the removed squash into small pieces.

Add chopped squash to the pan of beans. 

Mixture of beans, onions, squash and seasoning

Stir in the wild rice mixture. 

Stir in the cooked wild and brown rice

Stuff the squash with the bean and rice mixture and cover with foil. Place in the oven and bake until warm, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Cover with foil and bake until heated

Serve with a tablespoon or more of low sugar cranberry sauce. 
Enjoy!

Serve with cranberry sauce

Per serving: 369 calories, 3 g fat, 0.5 g saturated fat, 12 g protein, 76 g carbohydrates, 10.3 g fiber and 374 g sodium.

Raw Vegan Pumpkin Soup

Getting Ready for the Holidays

It's November and soon my favorite holiday will be here - Thanksgiving. I'll be publishing healthy and delicious recipes that you can prepare for this special day or for any of your favorite holiday meals. This raw pumpkin soup is part of the Raw Vegan Thanksgiving and Winter Holiday Menu. This thick and creamy soup provides 150% of your daily requirement of vitamin A - a key vitamin important for vision, growth and development, healthy skin and immune function. It's also high in vitamin C. Feel free to replace the pumpkin with butternut or other winter squash.

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Raw Vegan Pumpkin Soup [serves 4]

3 cups raw pumpkin or butternut squash, peeled and diced

1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen (and thawed) yellow corn

3/4 cups diced red bell pepper

2 1/2 cups fresh apple juice

2 1/2 teaspoons fresh ginger, minced

2 1/2 teaspoons fresh garlic, minced

1/2 to 1 teaspoon sea salt (or to taste)

1/2 cup mashed avocado

2 teaspoons raw pumpkin seeds for garnish

1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped, for garnish

In a high speed blender, combine pumpkin, corn, red bell pepper, apple juice, ginger, garlic, salt and avocado. Process for several minutes, until smooth. (If too thick, add more apple juice). Divide into 4 soup bowls and garnish with raw pumpkin seeds and fresh thyme.

Per serving: 211.5 calories, 5.8 g fat, 0.8 g saturated fat, 0 mg of cholesterol, 3.8 g protein, 39.1 g carbohydrates, 3.9 g fiber, 7,457 IU vitamin A and 51.3 mg of vitamin C.

Vegan Stuffed Sugar Pumpkin with Quinoa, Pecans, Cranberries and Apples - Happy World Vegetarian Day!

Pre-bake hollow sugar pumpkin before stuffing.

Red, standard color and black quinoa.

Rinse quinoa very well to remove bitter taste.

Quinoa is cooked when liquid is absorbed - around 15 minutes.

Cut the stuffed pumpkin in half for a single serving.

Celebrate World Vegetarian Day with this Meat-free Recipe

October 1st is World Vegetarian Day - the annual kickoff of vegetarian awareness month. Eating meatless meals can reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke and cancer and prevent exposure to food-borne pathogens. It provides a viable solution to world hunger through more efficient use of grains. To learn more about the benefits of vegetarian eating and to receive a free 16 page booklet, visit the North American Vegetarian Society website.

Quinoa (Pronounced, "keen-wah")

Native to South America, it was considered a sacred staple of the Incas because of its exceptional nutritional value. Quinoa is used as a grain (even though it’s not actually a grain) and is more commonly found in vegetarian cooking because of its excellent balance of all nine essential amino acids. It is also a very good source of manganese and a good source of magnesium and phosphorus. One half cup of cooked quinoa contains 111 calories, 2 grams of unsaturated fat, no cholesterol, 19.5 g of carbohydrates, 2.5 g of dietary fiber and 4 grams of protein.

Quinoa can be sprouted and used in raw vegan cuisine or it can be cooked in only 15 minutes to get a delicate, light dish resembling couscous. It’s very important to rinse quinoa thoroughly or it may taste bitter. Standard quinoa has a cream color but I also found some in red and black. For fun I mixed all three colors to make this pumpkin stuffing but of course, you don’t need to do that.

A Great Vegetarian Entree at Thanksgiving or Holiday Dinners

If you are hosting a traditional Thanksgiving or holiday dinner this year and you find that one or more of your guests are vegan or vegetarian, delight them with this entree. Quite often at meat eating dinner parties, vegetarians must make their meal from "side dishes" always wondering if there's chicken broth in the stuffing. A festive, vegan stuffed pumpkin would make them feel very special. Of course if you are hosting a vegetarian Thanksgiving or holiday party, make lots of these for all of your guests!

As beautiful and festive as this dish is, it's also packed with nutrients and phytochemicals, low in saturated fat, high in fiber and fairly low in calories (for such a filling entree). You can also use this quinoa filling to stuff acorn or other winter squash.

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Vegan Stuffed Sugar Pumpkins [serves 4]

2 sugar pumpkins (around 2 to 2 1/2 pounds each)

2 cups water or broth

1/4 teaspoon sea salt, plus some for salting pumpkin

1 cup quinoa

1 cup apples, peeled and diced

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

2 teaspoons non-transfat vegan margarine plus some for greasing pumpkin

1/2 cup dried, sweetened cranberries

1/2 cup raw organic pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Carefully remove the tops of the sugar pumpkins. Remove seeds and strings. LIghtly grease and salt the insides of the pumpkins, replace the tops and bake until the inside flesh is soft enough to be pierced by a fork (about 1 hour). Rinse the quinoa in a fine strainer THOROUGHLY or it may have a bitter taste. Bring water and salt to a boil. Stir in quinoa and simmer covered until all the water is absorbed (about 15 minutes). Add the apples, cinnamon, ginger and margarine to the hot quinoa and stir together. Mix in the cranberries and pecans.

Remove cooked pumpkins from the oven and fill with quinoa mixture. Cover each pumpkin with foil and bake an additional 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let rest for 5 minutes. Remove foil, slice each pumpkin in half and serve.

Per serving: 373 calories, 14.1 g fat, 1.6 g saturated fat, 0 g cholesterol, 9.3 g protein, 57.1 g carbohydrates and 8.3 g of fiber.

Creamy Vegan Pumpkin Soup with Curried Gravenstein Apples

Save money and make your own quick vegetable broth.

This sugar pie yielded 5 cups of chopped pumpkin for my soup.

Peeled pumpkin with seeds removed.

Using your Harvest

We grew quite a few little sugar pie pumpkins and although quite a few of them will make their way into pies, a healthier way to use them is in a soup. Since we still have a few boxes of Sebastopol Gravenstein apples, this recipe will also use some of these. You can also substitute winter squash for the pumpkin and other types of apples for the Gravensteins.

Carotenoids - Strong Antioxidants

Red, yellow and orange vegetables are full of antioxidant rich carotenoids. Although Beta-carotene is the most well known, hundreds of carotenoids have been identified. These antioxidants are believed to enhance our ability to fight cancer and other diseases. The power of these and other plant chemicals is enhanced when they are consumed together so it’s best to get them from food than to buy a vitamin pill that has isolated a single carotenoid, like beta carotene.

Nutrient Content of One Cup of Cubed Raw Pumpkin [source, Nutrition.data.com ]

Calories - 30

Fat and cholesterol - 0 g

Carbohydrates - 8g

Fiber - 1 g

Protein - 1 g

Vitamin A - 8,567 IU (171 % Daily Value)*

Potassium - 394 mg (11%)

Riboflavin - 0.1 mg (8%)

Copper - 0.1 mg (7%)

Manganese - 0.1 mg (7%)

Vitamin E - 1.2 mg (6%)

Folate - 18.6 mcg (5%)

Iron - 0.9mg (5%)

Phosphorus - 51 mg (5%)

Thiamin - 0.1 mg (4%)

Vitamin B6 - 0.1 mg (4%)

* In descending Percent Daily Values (%DV) based on an adult 2,000 calorie diet.

Make your Own Quick Broth

You can substitute ready-made broth in this recipe. But if you want to save a few dollars and use herbs from your garden and on-hand veggies, you can throw together a quick broth while you are preparing the rest of the soup ingredients.

Creamy Soup Without the Cream

Whether you are vegan, lactose intolerant or you just want to save some calories, you can make your soup creamy by blending in potatoes instead of cream.

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Creamy Vegan Pumpkin Soup with Curried Gravenstein Apples [serves 4]

For the broth:

5 cups filtered water

2 carrots, each cut in three pieces

1 large piece celery, cut a few pieces

Skin and ends of a large onion

Sprig of fresh thyme

Handful of fresh parsley

4 peppercorns

2 cloves garlic in skin, each cut in half

For the Soup:

1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil

1 large onion, peeled and chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)

1 small pumpkin, peeled and chopped (about 5 cups)

1 1/2 cups peeled and chopped Yukon Gold potatoes

3 cups of broth (from above or ready-made)

1/2 teaspoon sea salt (or to taste)

2 cups chopped Gravenstein (or other) apple

1 tablespoon Earth Balance or other vegan no-transfat margarine

1 teaspoon sweet curry

Black pepper to taste (optional)

Bring all broth ingredients to a boil in a sauce pan. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, while you prepare the soup (or at least 30 minutes). In a 5 or 6 quart Dutch oven, saute onion in the olive oil for 5 minutes. Add 3 cups of the broth (the above recipe may make a little more than that but only use 3 cups of it), the pumpkin, potato and salt. Bring to boil, then simmer until the pumpkin and potatoes are soft, about 15 minutes. Put the soup in a blender, blend until just smooth and return to the pot. Adjust salt if necessary. In a small sauce pan, saute apple in margarine and curry powder for 2 minutes, mixing continually. Divide soup in 4 bowls, top each with apples and freshly ground black pepper.

Per serving: 171 calories, 4.1 g fat, 1.0 g saturated fat, 0 g cholesterol, 2.8 g protein, 33.9 g carbohydrates and 3.6 g of fiber.

When to Harvest and How to Cure Pumpkins and Winter Squash

Spaghetti squash stems shrivel and dry when ripe.

Some pumpkin stems turn very dark green when ripe. Others shrivel and turn light brown.

Cure in the sun for 10 days to harden skin and extend shelf life.

Is it Time to Harvest my Pumpkins and Winter Squash?

Although we've grown a few pumpkins in the past, this is the first year we had the room to experiment with winter squash and expand our pumpkins patch. They have been really fun to watch grow but I wasn't sure when to harvest them. After all, they are called "winter" squash and I always thought they should be pulled out of the ground right before winter sets in. Well, that may be true in Vermont but here in California, some of these vegetables are ready to harvest, especially if you planted them early in the spring.

I pulled out "The Vegetable Gardener's Bible" by Edward C. Smith to get some expert advice. According to Smith, the two indicators that tell you winter squash are ripe are: (1) the stems begin to shrivel and dry and (2) the skin is so hard that you can't cut it with your thumbnail (although he warns that pumpkin skin may remain a bit soft even when ripe). The stems of my spaghetti squash definitely shriveled and became light brown. The stems of our pumpkins and some of the other squash however, turned a dark green. The stems of my friend's pumpkins, which were larger and of a different type, shriveled and became light brown, similar to our spaghetti squash. I also looked at the seed packets to see how many days until maturation to make sure I had left them in the ground long enough.

Harvesting and Curing

When harvesting, leave a good bit of the stem on the squash and pumpkins, at least an inch. Smith warns not to carry them by the stems or they may break off. He didn't have to warn me. The stems are full of spines and it hurts to carry them that way.

Just like we did with garlic, we need to cure the pumpkins and winter squash if we want to extend their shelf life. But unlike the garlic which we kept in a ventilated shed out of the sun, you want to put the pumpkins and the winter squash in the sun for 10 days.

I'm definitely not going to store all of them so you'll be seeing some pumpkin recipes real soon! Good luck with your harvest.