Dear Liza,
While we were out getting our Christmas tree the other day, Lawrence, who runs the tree lot, let us adopt a bunch of the little branches that he trims off trees to let them fit into the Christmas tree stands.
We brought a whole bunch home and used them to make a small wreath and a nice wash of greenery around the new Yew tree in its pot.
We had branches left over, so Auntie Bridgett suggested that we offer them to Stacy across the way. “Sure!”, Stacy said, “put them by the doomed pumpkins on our porch.” After some discussion, Stacy said I could take her pumpkins and leave the branches.
Free food! Hooray!
So today I processed (roasted, then puréed) our two pumpkins and Stacy’s two, and made about five pounds of pumpkin puree. Some will wait in the freezer for a few weeks, I think.
The pumpkin puree is flavored with a little bit of honey, real butter, and fall-ish spices, and roasted for an hour and a half at 350 F. This evaporates a bunch of moisture and concentrates the sweetness. It is so easy, and makes good use of the giant fruit that a lot of people just throw away after Halloween.
So now I have some pumpkin butter to share with neighbors, thanks to neighbors being neighborly.
Ain’t life grand?
Love,
Grandma Judy
Dear Liza 