Dorothy, I'll get back to you today, later, when not restricted to a handheld device. Do let the corn dry on the stalks. It'll draw nutrients as it dries down. Some of the pumpkins may mature, if they were really really close. This, and some other moschatas are actually "mature" at some point while still green in color. It is best for them to turn buff on the vine. But sometimes that isn't to be.

Wow! Life has been full for me to go so long without seeing your post!

George

Dorothy,

Rodger Winn, who sent me the original start for Old Timey Cornfield Pumpkin, said that there, it was traditional to make pies out of them when they were still immature. I have never pursued more info on this tidbit. But it makes me suspect that they are usable before they actually mature. What I don't know, is whether there is some other manner in which they prepare them at that stage.

Some moschatas hit a point of maturity, at which they are still green. But they turn buff in storage. Perhaps some of your fruit will do this. I'd keep an eye on them and be prepared to move if you see some starting to go bad. Also, be sure to try one, at any given stage, to be sure that it's worth the trouble, before you process more.

Ours were setting and even maturing fruit, back in June. But since July they have been in retreat. I've almost given up hope that we will see any harvest this year. The fruit which had already set, and grown to softball size, simply aborted over the last two months. The plants are about half dead now. I'm glad we processed so much last year, cause I don't think we're going to see any squash this year.

George

Thanks, George. All the pumpkins we picked had turned buff-colored on the vine, but were not yet hard. All but one could still be pierced with a thumbnail. We got 6 fairly good sized ones and a couple smaller ones that may not be good. I think in the future we will raise sweet potatoes instead of pumpkins as the sp don't have insect issues and the pumpkins were covered in squash bugs by the time we picked them. (But an armadillo did dig into the row of sp after we watered it.)

I thought I was supposed to leave the corn so I did. Quit watering when the ears reached full size and now everything is turning brown. We were afraid the birds would do a lot of damage, but they haven't. Guess they don't like meal corn as well as sweet.

I abandoned the Tennessee Cutshort Beans after the second time the deer ate them back, but so far the Cherokee Stripe are alive. They haven't had a drop of rain yet, only irrigation water, but I'm still hoping to get something from them.

Tell Jerreth Hi. We looked for her yesterday when we were in town, but didn't see her. Dorothy

Oh! I hadn't mentioned it. Jerreth has changed jobs. The Language School, at Northeastern State University, contacted her, some weeks ago, asking her to apply for a teaching job. She did, and she is now teaching English as a second language to foreign students at NSU. It's a job which really fits her, although she is still lamenting the loss of her Walmart job. She loved her coworkers and all the exercise that came with working in the meat department.

Sounds like many of your squash will be fine. If they had turned buff they were indeed really close to maturity.

This is a most unusual year. Last year, I had almost no squash bugs, least of all on this particular pumpkin. This year, they are EVERYWHERE, killing any squash I plant. I would never go without growing sweet potatoes. But neither would I want to do without my squash. I'm hoping for a better year in 2011.

George

I hope Jerreth likes her new job.

Well, the sweet potatoes didn't get by unscathed after all. The deer got in and ate a good deal of the leaves off the vines. We're thinking we might as well dig them although we didn't really want to yet. What do you think? They've lost at least 1/2 the leaves maybe more.

We harvested the corn because it seemed to be ready and we didn't think it would be good for it to get rained on so much. In shucking some of the ears we were surpised to find mold on several of them, which surprised us because it's been so dry and the soaker hose that watered them didn't spray that high--was mostly covered in mulch. Is that normal? And now how do we remove the kernels from the cobs? Just push them off with our thumbs?

The squash bugs moved from the pumpkins to the young zuchinni and cucumber plants that I planted a month ago and destroyed them in one night. The DE didn't seem to do the job.

Thanks, George, for the info.

I'd still let those sweet potatoes alone for a bit. They can still put on weight, and it won't take long for them to replace those leaves. I've heard of deer eating off every leaf, in August, and the vines still producing a nice crop.

Yes, we just use our hands to shell the corn. It helps a lot if the ears are good and dry before you try this. Also, one can use an ear to rub grain off of another ear, to save on one's fingers. Mesquakies' one weakness is that the kernels can be a bit of work to shell. But we generally do it while watching a video, and the time goes by quickly. If you have a lot to shell, I'd recommend that you not try to do it all at once. This can rub one's fingers raw. We actually have a corn sheller now. We'll see how it works. If you should come to Tahlequah, sometime soon, I bet we could loan it to you. It works by cranking and looks a lot like a hand mill for grinding.

I don't think it's real normal for there to be mold on the ears. But then, nothing, this year, has been normal. So far, in shucking our Cherokee Squaw Corn, we have had very little insect or mold damage. It's practically the only thing to do well this year!

That's how the squash bugs acted with our cucurbits this year. They moved in hordes and destroyed plants almost before we noticed the onslaught.

George