Florida Gardening: Tropical Pumpkin AKA Calabasa

 Last Summer I discovered an adorable little pumpkin.
One that grows and thrives in our harsh, tropical climate while producing an abundance of tasty, fast growing gourds.

It's called Calabasa, or Tropical Pumpkin! I prefer to call it Tropical pumpkin just because I REALLY love being able to say I grow my own pumpkins! It's not something you hear often in SW Florida (Zone 9)

I purchased a small sack of seeks from ECHO in North Fort Myers on a whim, while I was attending one of their fantastic Farm Days!

I planted 4 seeds mid August and three sprouted, slowly forming a little circle of Pumpkin vine over the next couple of weeks.

Cute, right?! It started sending out these lightening fast growing tendrils every which way! I had to start training it to stay out of other beds and pathways. Every day these vines would gain a foot or so of growth.

Well, once a couple of summer time rains fell and really got this beast going it was all over the place! And that's a good thing! It's beautiful and broad leaves make a really nice ground cover.

By Thanksgiving we had enough mature pumpkins to trade with friends and family and to make some of the BEST pumpkin pie I've ever tasted! In the beginning I was very impatient and I picked them while they were still green. Which led to seed saving failure. The squash themselves were still totally great for eating, but the seeds weren't viable.

So I learned to let them stay on the vine until they started to blush and turn yellowish pinkish. Almost the color of a butternut squash but still some green on the skin.

Now I have seeds to share with my Florida gardening friends and family too! Which is very exciting to me! I'm so in love with this squash that I want to share it with everyone!

During the short days in the winter the vine died back a little. We got a touch of frost that killed off a lot of leaves. I just left everything to die where it stood and re-nourish the ground with the composting, fallen leaves.

In late march/ early April the vines came back with a vengeance! Here it is mid March and I've just harvested 8 squash of all different sizes!

Once I planted these seeds back in August I have not had to feed the vines once. They grow all over the place and I water them with everything else. They need zero special attention!

They do seem to like  morning shade and afternoon evening sun. I have a vine in a different location that was full sun and it really didn't do nearly as well.

It's a simple and very rewarding crop! The only pest I've encountered has been a rat here or there. They like to slip in at night and nibble just enough to wreck a perfectly good squash! Very aggravating, but not such a nuisance that I've needed to retaliate... yet.

I like to cut the tops off like a jack-o-lantern and scoop out the seeds. Then I roast them for about an hour. This makes it so you can either eat it as is, with some maple syrup or butter, or you can scoop out the flesh to blend into a puree for other recipes. Treat it like you would any large squash! It makes amazing soup, bread, pie and stands alone as a very yummy side dish!

Upcycle whimsey and imagination play!

I'm really stoked about sharing my upcycled project from today!

A Pallet Theater Playhouse!

It was so easy and everything I used is stuff I had laying around the house and yard. The little guy LOVES it and keeps pulling the curtains back and saying "Dun da da DAAA!"

I want an adult sized on!

Cashew "Milk" and "Cheese"

Home made cashew milk is full of protein and micro nutrients! It has a higher protein content than store bought cashew milk and its a raw food! You can add flavoring or sweetener to your home made cashew milk, like stevia, cinnamon or vanilla extract or you can use it plain.

Use cashew milk in vegan recipies like soups or use it in your morning cereal as a healthful alternative to dairy products!

Cashew milk is made pretty much the exact same way as Almond Milk and other nut milks.

The only difference is you really don't need to soak the cashews as long as you'd soak harder nuts like almonds. Over night is good, but just a few hours will be fine.

Here's what you'll need:

-Blender or food processor
-Nut bag or nylon stocking
-one cup RAW cashews
-2 cups filtered water
-A large drinking cup and a bowl or two

 You're going to want to soak your nuts a good, long while. I prefer to soak them over night but, in a pinch, you can soak them for just a couple hours and get nearly the same results.
It's very important that you use raw nuts!

So, Soak your raw cashews in the 2 cups of water for several hours

 After soaking, pour your nuts and water into your blender or processor and blend until smooth. This doesn't take long. Only about 2 minutes or so.

 If you don't have a nut bag, which I do not... (they're sort of pricey) You can use a new, unworn (please!), nylon stocking, I got some black knee highs to keep in my kitchen for these sorts of things.

Place the nylon in a large drinking cup and pull it around the rim of the cup like in this photo--->
This will allow you to pour the slurry you've made into the nylon easily.

 Then, over a large bowl, squeeze all of the liquid from the pulp. Don't be shy! Squeeze the bageebas out of it! The nylons are strong!
Remember to rinse out your nylon immediately and hang it to dry, or toss it in with a load of laundry. You don't want it to get moldy! You can use them over and over again.

 When you're done, turn the stocking inside out into another bowl and save your well drained cashew pulp for this next recipe!

So now you have cashew milk ready for flavoring, if you choose,  and for eating! And you also have your pulp!

Put your pulp back into your blender with a garlic clove, sea salt, white pepper and just about a 1/4 cup of the cashew milk.
Blend until smoothe and you have a perfect "Cheese" dip or spread for crackers or veggies!

If you heat this up and add more cashew milk back into it you can also make a nice, thick sauce that I like to use as a vegan, Alfredo alternative! It's great on zucchini noodles and you can skip the heating up part for raw meals!

Raw, Vegan, Dilly Kale Crisps

In response to the popular and enthusiastic push for making kale chips whenever possible, I came up with a tastier and more versatile option!

Raw Dilly Kale Crisps !

Kale crisps are thicker, more nutritious and fun to make and eat! 

You can alter this recipe to suit your flavor needs. Instead of dill and sea salt you can use a dash of Tabasco or basil and oregano or even pesto! The flavor posibilities are endless! 

Here's what you need:

¾ Cup filtered water

½ cup chia seeds

2-3 cups fresh kale leaves

Fresh dill

Sea salt

Parchment paper cut to fit your dehydrator trays or fine meshed dehydrator screen

Blender or food processor

Dehydrator

Large flat wooden spoon

Combine water and kale leaves in a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth and soupy. Add more water if needed.

Add chia seeds and blend immediately, scraping down the sides of the blender as needed.

Add fresh dill and a small amount of salt and blend until smooth.

Spread slurry ¼ inch thick onto parchment paper or dehydrator mesh using the back of a wooden spoon

Set dehydrator to 115* and run 10-12 hours.

Turn over and peel away parchment paper and continue dehydrating for another 1-3 hours or until crisp.

Store chips in a paper bag in a cool dry place like a pantry.

Enjoy with dip or salsa!

Raw, Grain Free, Vegan Pumpkin Spice Granola bars

This is my very favorite go-to recipe when I'm working to maintain an "as raw as possible" lifestyle. It's a great grab and go snack and it's way less expensive than stocking up on lara bars or some of the more pricey store bought raw snack foods.

Something I haven't touched on yet is WHY we soak nuts and how long to soak them. I'm working on an upcoming blog for just this purpose! But for the sake of time and for this recipe I'll break it down simple and quick...

-We soak nuts and seeds to make them more digestible
-Generally, soaking overnight in filtered water for at least 7 hours is enough time (except for chia or flax)
-I soak dates to make them easier to blend and puree
-Do not soak chia seeds for more than a few minutes! Chia and flax seeds create a gell when soaked. Flax seeds can be soaked for hours but chia only take a short time.)

SO! All of that being said! Lets learn how to make these delicious and crunchy/chewy treats!

I do encourage you to play with the recipe and add your own favorite nuts, seeds or spices. There's a lot of room for personalization here! Have fun with it!

Raw, Grain free, Vegan Granola Bars – Pumpkin Spice

You will need:

1 cup soaked and drained raw almonds chopped

1 ½ cup soaked and drained, pitted dates (save some date water)

1 cup raisins

1 cup raw sunflower seeds

1 cup raw pumpkin seeds

½ cup raw chia seeds soaked in ¾ cup water

½ cut cacao nibs

1 tsp Pumpkin pie spice mix (optional)

Parchment paper cut to fit your dehydrator trays or fine meshed dehydrator screen

Large bowl and wide wooden spoon

Blender or food processor

Dehydrator

--

Combine raisins, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, chopped almonds, cacao in a large bowl and set aside.

Put soaked chia seeds, pumpkin spice and drained dates into blender and puree until smooth. Add small amounts of the water from soaking your dates if needed.

Combine wet and dry mixes together in large bowl and spread mixture 1/2 of an inch thick, evenly on parchment paper lined dehydrator trays using the back of a wide wooden spoon to press evenly into place.

Set dehydrator temp to 115* and run continuously for 12 hours.

Flip over and peel parchment paper off, then dehydrate for an additional 2-5 hours or until dry to the touch.

Cut evenly into bars. Wrap individual bars in parchment paper and store in a paper bag in a cool, dry location like a pantry.

Enjoy this energy filled treat as a grab and go snack!

Salvage Gardening

This summer we've been working hard on a project at the local high school that involves refurbishing an old, unused greenhouse as well as providing space for a "community" garden for students and staff to have full access to for growing food.

I took on the task of building the garden during the grueling Florida summer months, with no budget and very few people willing to spend hours out in the mosquito infested, high humidity, fire ant covered garden area. The temperatures average about 95* this time of year with a feels-like estimate of 105 or so.

It's not for the faint of heart, but when you make a promise... you follow through! SO, that said and out of the way. I had a task at hand.

How was I going to fill this empty area with raised beds, few helping hands and zero budget?








Well, fortunately I'm a picker. I'm a dumpster diving, trash loving, roadside warrior!
So, just about the time we had finished tilling up the area, laying down cardboard as a mulch (more trash to treasure) I was really starting to sweat over how we were going to pull off making a field full of raised beds in time for the start of the school year.

Then on my way home ...I saw THIS





Beautiful, right?



Perfectly good, beautifully weathered wood painted white on one side with latex paint. Some may argue that there's a risk of chemical leech from fencing lumber, but I'm not one of those people. I'm just not concerned with it, the wood is significantly weathered and half painted. It's PERFECT for the project!
So I called up a friend to rush over with her trailer in tow and we loaded up the 8 panels. .

We utilized as much of the existing structure as possible, to save on screws. SO we made cuts with a hand held circular saw down the three horizontal beams that hold the slats together, creating panels that were each two slats wide. Creating a board for the bed wall that was about 8 inches in depth. We also cut off the dog eared top piece of each slat to make the beds a bit smaller.

They come together at about 5.5" x 5.5" squares.Plenty large enough for a decent sized plot, 8 inches is a good depth too! So at this point, when we made out first bed... I was stoked! This was going to work!

And here it is! Our first raised bed made from roadside treasure! The muddy ground underneath covered up with some trash picked cardboard to help keep the weeds from reclaiming the area.

Add caption

We quickly got busy making more. 11 more in fact! 10 stayed at the school garden and two came home with us , as a self appointed reward for our hard work :)

We've been busy the last few days filling the whole area with mulch that we had delivered from a local tree trimming company. MORE material that would otherwise have ended up in a landfill, being put to very good use in food production. If this doesn't warm a heart, nothing will!



Next week we'll have a delivery of soil to fill the beds and they'll be ready for planting when the weather finally simmers down a bit.






 This is where the two extra beds found a home, at my new house and in the beginning stages of my personal garden.
You can also see the third salvage creation in the back of the photo. Palate compost bins! We've made three sets of these this summer! One for the school, one for a community demonstration garden we worked on and one for our home garden.

 We used large palates for the schools garden. Food scraps and garden waste will be dumped here and turned regularly. The composting process is pretty speedy when you tend to it and keep turning the material. We lucked out and scored some smaller, hard wood pallets for our home garden so they don't take up as much space.

And here he is, my lovely assistant Warren. He built these compost bins for me and I love him so much for it (among other things).







I'm pretty proud of the progress we've made. No money has been spent on this portion of the garden. Everything was salvaged and we already had the screws. It just goes to show that a nice garden space can be created on any budget! It just takes a sharp eye and the ability to think outside of the box. Pay close attention to the garbage you pass by every day!
You may find your new garden in there someday!