Pumpkin and Fear

While most of the pumpkins are drying, we cooked up the first one.  I used the little jack-o-lantern tools we got at Halloween to cut the fruit in half.  I used to use a knife and was scared every time as I shoved with my all weight to make the cut.  Those little tools take less strength are a lot safer.

After scooping out the seeds and goop, the halves go in the oven on cookie sheets until a fork pokes into them easily.  When in doubt, cook them longer.  After cooling, I slice the skin off with a knife and make big cubes of the flesh.

We could just mash the pumpkin, but I like pies better when it has been pureed nice and smooth.  This hand-crank food processor was a thrift-store find years ago.  In 30 seconds, they become a smooth pulp.

I used to buy several pumpkins right after Halloween each year and freeze the pumpkin.  Now with a root cellar, we're going to try storing the whole fruit over winter and not do a huge batch of pumpkin all at once.

With so much squash going into storage, I realize that we need to be eating more squash than we have.  I'll count them up and figure how many we should be eating each week so we don't come up to next summer with gobs of squash rotting in the cellar.

Christina is two weeks from her due date, which means we are two weeks from our first calving.  It's time to get out the books and read the sections on calving again.  They say Jerseys calve easily, but a sudden calcium deficiency called milk fever is a problem.

I find myself watching her closely.  Her udder looks small to me, telling me that she hasn't started filling up in preparation for birth.  We're going to start spending more time with her so that she's more comfortable with us when she's in labor.  Knowing that this could be a night-time experience makes me tired just thinking about it. 

The last year has been lots of firsts, and this one makes me as nervous as any of them.  God has gotten us through the others in a way that afterward made we wonder why I was nervous.  But I'm a slow learner (or not as trusting of God as I claim) and I'm still nervous about this one.  The most common phrase in Scripture is, "be not afraid."  How full I am of fear of the unknown and the ways I may fail the situation.  Today's homework is to listen as God tells me, "be not afraid."