Pumpkin « Putney Farm

Poor Linus. He never understood that the Great Pumpkin doesn’t visit you…. you visit the Great Pumpkin. And we happen to know that the Great Pumpkin lives in Half Moon Bay, California and spends most of its time showing off its best creations at Farmer John’s Pumpkin Farm.

Note the pink pumpkins in the background…

And it is a farm, not a “patch”. “Farmer John” Muller and his wife Eda run the best pumpkin farm in the Bay Area. John is tight with the Great Pumpkin and has more pumpkins, squash and gourds than just about anyone. Designers and restauranteurs join the masses to visit his farm every October and enjoy all the goodies. Thousands of pumpkins in immesurable colors, sizes and shapes (and flavors- some of these pumpkins are very tasty). And good people, too. With the help of Jon and Eda, the Great Pumpkin manages to host hundreds of disadvantaged school kids and give them pumpkins and time on a real farm. A kind and warm spirit is all around you at Farmer’s John’s. If a farm has a soundtrack, this one has lots of giggles and laughter. So thanks ~~John and Eda~~ Great Pumpkin! Here are a few photos of our “haul”….

Our “offering” to the Great Pumpkin.

Sam wants everyone to know that the green patch is not a bruise…but he did drop this one…;-)

The alien squash says “take me to your leader”.

These are called “dippers”…

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Pumpkin Muffins with a little butter and fig jam.

There is no doubt that it’s pumpkin season here in northern California. Everywhere you look, there are pumpkin farms and patches and the Half Moon Bay pumpkin Festival is this weekend. Lots of pumpkins, fun and…..traffic. We avoid the festival but we do like to go to the coast and visit some of the pumpkin farms for both eating and ornamental pumpkins, it’s fun and the kids love it. But until then, we can make these pumpkin muffins to satisfy any pumpkin cravings (and as a nod to the Great Pumpkin).

And these are very good muffins, more like pumpkin-spice cupcakes. But that is a good thing, a very good thing. The recipe we use is a riff on Sarabeth Levine’s well-known rpumpkin muffin ecipe from Sarabeth’s Bakery in New York. You can also get the recipe, and many others, in her cookbook “Sarabeth’s Bakery: From My Hands To Yours“. It’s a good cookbook, particularly if you like to bake. The instructions do assume a certain level of skill, but we simplify and clarify the recipe. And the process isn’t hard and you get a very light and tasty muffin with a cake-like texture.

The process is pretty standard muffin-making. Get your muffin tin and cups ready, and preheat the oven. Sift together the dry ingredients, then beat some butter, sugar and eggs together. Add the pumpkin and then slowly add the dry ingredients to the mixture. Then put the batter in the cups, sprinkle on some sugar and bake. When the muffins are ready, cool and then serve.