Gourd of the rings

EVERY morning, when I see the gardeners coming in with baskets of freshly picked vegetables and herbs, I feel blessed. I often feel like grabbing my camera to record the bounty.

Today, the impulse was irresistible when I saw Eileen manoeuvring a wheelbarrow full of pumpkins and squash up from the greenhouse. Myriad shapes and sizes - little gem and crookneck squash, hubbard, turks turban, acorn, delicata, butternut squash, several huge pumpkins, a few Jack o’ lanterns and a variety of gourds - they looked like a glorious still life. Eileen and Kay arranged them in clusters on the window sills, along the shelves and piled them into pyramids in the centre of the dining room and serving tables.

The displays prompted the inevitable questions. What’s the difference between a squash and a pumpkin? How do you cook them? How do they taste? Which pumpkin is best for a particular recipe?