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4:29 PM - How to Give Away $100,000.00 Withou |
| ? Earlier this month, we marked our third calendar year at this property, which we bought from organic gardeners.This, then, will be our fourth growing season.? Last year, a vine volunteered in an ornamental bed that we had not touched.So I let it grow.The plant turned out to be a Blue Lakota pumpkin, and it sent three branches snaking through our wildflower garden.The vine produced three fifteen pound pumpkins.Big, fat, gorgeous blue/green/grey pumpkins.? ? The Blue Lakota pumpkin is an indigenous species grown by the Lakota people prior to European contact.My seed catalog, other gardener and Web research showed it to be a rare variety.My culinary exploits revealed the deep orange flesh to be tasty and versatile.(links to recipes at the end) ? How this vine came to be in our garden remains a mystery.One secret we recognized right away was the possibility in the seeds.These pumpkins were raised organically, and netted us 700 seeds.My organic heirloom seed price-savvy brain calculated that we had roughly $100,000.00 dollars of?potential in these three pumpkins.(That?s 700 seeds with a tested 87% germination rate, minus four pumpkins held back for the following year?s seeds, leaving 605 vines to produce 3 pumpkins each.Each of the 1,815 pumpkins should produce at least 210 seeds for 381,150 possible seeds at the end of this growing season.Sold in packets of 12 seeds each for $3.30, including shipping and handling, the project would gross $104,816.)? We are gardeners, and we do have land, but 605 pumpkin vines and the cottage industry to go with it is simply out of the question.So we decided to give away the seeds.The first 250 or so were easy, as I?m part of an online organic gardening community that has cultivated the art of seed swap.Poof!250 seeds distributed in small quantities to heirloom variety lovers across the contiguous states.? It has taken since October to connect with the Oglala Lakota Indian tribe, but with the help of the Mennonite Central Committee, operators of the Pine Ridge Lakota Gardens project, I am thrilled to say today we finalized the gift and air mailed 450 seeds of possibility to Porcupine, South Dakota.You might say we returned these seeds to their most rightful owners.? Of course there are no guarantees, though I most certainly hope the Lakota tribe has a bumper crop of seed-producing pumpkins this year and every year to come.I?ll be looking for the familiar blue/green/grey pumpkin at every harvest festival I pass and hope you will too.? More Information ?Wikipedia on the Pine Ridge Reservation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine_Ridge_Reservation ? Wikipedia on the Lakota people http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakota_people ? Eyewitness Article: Desperation in Pine Ridge http://www.newswithviews.com/public_comm/public_commentary46.htm ? Friends of Pine Ridge Reservation http://friendsofpineridgereservation.org/ ? ? ? FOODIE SECTION: ? With the beautiful orange flesh of these three divine pumpkins, I made the most scrumptious pumpkin-apple pie; pumpkin pie with coconut; pumpkin-ginger butter; au gratin pumpkin wedges, Mexican-style baked pumpkin; squash soup and pumpkin-ginger scones.This pumpkin is a culinary treat!Here are a few recipe resources: ? Cooking Light searchable recipes (pumpkin search) http://www.cookinglight.com/cooking/search/results/1,14413,,00.html ? Epicurious searchable recipes (pumpkin search) http://www.epicurious.com/tools/searchresults?search=pumpkin ? All Recipes searchable recipes (pumpkin search) http://allrecipes.com/Recipes/Fruits-and-Vegetables/Vegetables-N-Z/Pumpkin/Main.aspx ? ? |
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