sacred pumpkin- EDITED.

i feel sorry for pumpkins.
they are a good squash, that has gotten materialized.
today, so many use pumpkins just as decoration- then throw them away.
(they are a symbol of Halloween and thanksgiving- not of Christmas.)
i have done this for years.
to me, the pumpkin is a symbol of WASTE in America.
a country that has so much, we use food as decoration and then trash them by the thousands.
we throw away thousands, if not hundreds of thousands... and yet COMPLAIN when we can't even BUY canned pumpkin at Wal-Mart.
what is wrong with this picture?
(hah!  some people are passionate about health care-- i am passionate about pumpkins!  not pumpkins really, WASTE.  i feel the gluttony of our American waste.  The things we throw away makes me sad.)

my husband is working with people in 3rd world countries.
people who would be grateful for a pumpkin to eat.

i've kept my perfectly healthy, happy, round pumpkins on my fireplace, because i felt guilty throwing them away.
yesterday i gutted them.
i had my little girls help me pick out the seeds (much more fun than watching Diego, again).
i roasted the seeds with a little salt in the oven at 170* for the afternoon.
they taste great.

i BUY pumpkin seeds every month to put in my granola... and yet i throw away my Halloween pumpkins?!

seriously.

i stuck my halved pumpkins on a cookie sheet and roasted them in my other oven at 350* while i did laundry and straightened up. 

they cooked for about an hour, until my house started to smell like pumpkin pie.

i scraped the pulp and put it in the fridge.

this morning i blended it in the blender, got some jars out and scooped the guts inside.

i'm steaming them in the canner as i type.

(frozen pumpkin works great for pies and bread and is currently the most recommended form of pumpkin storage.)

i like mine for baby food-- and so i'm canning it in smaller jelly jars.

i keep thinking.

we throw these away-- and then we pay $1 for a half a cup of baby food squash.

we are a weird people.

and, as i de-gutted my pumpkin i looked at it like a killed deer.

i felt that the food we are given is sacred.

that i can be a better steward.

i thought of the pilgrims and the Indians, and i vowed to be more grateful.
we have so much.

today, i found holiness in a pumpkin.

EDIT--
We got a text from my SUPER-CANNING husband's cousin's wife...
she informed me that pumpkin needs to be canned with a pressure canner-- which i didn't do.
so, if i don't want my baby to die from botulism, i better freeze it or re-can it.
can you even do that?
anyway... like most of my GOOD INTENTIONS... this may end up down the drain after all.
dumb pumpkin.