WINDSOR—Whether for fall décor, seasonal recipes or enriching agritourism adventures, Virginia-grown squash offers something for everyone this month.
Winter squash season is in full swing, and growers across the state are boasting abundant pick-your-own and pre-picked options through October.
“From August 1 through the end of October, we’re running a hundred miles an hour,” quipped Catharine Goerger of Goerger Farms in Windsor.
Prepping for the farm’s busiest season requires meticulous planning. Fortunately, Goerger’s 4 acres of squash and pumpkins received just enough rain for a bountiful harvest.
“We got a bumper crop down here!” she noted.
Farther north in Richmond, Steve Gallmeyer of Gallmeyer Farms managed to harvest his squash and pumpkins a week early in mid-August despite a “month-long deluge” in July.
“We ended up with over 12 inches of rain, and it put all the plants on hold,” he explained. “Pumpkins and winter squash don’t like ‘wet feet,’ so you’ll have a better yield and quality in a dry year.”
While Gallmeyer lost about 40% of his crop, he’s grateful for a high-quality harvest.
The Gallmeyer Farms Pumpkin Patch is offering a variety of pumpkins and squash of “all shapes, colors and sizes” through Oct. 31. The varieties include acorn, miniature butternut and miniature spaghetti squash; and specialty pumpkins like Blue Doll, Porcelain Doll and Fairytale—all close relatives of winter squash.
Gallmeyer’s larger blue Hubbard and red Hubbard squash are especially popular for fall décor. But most of his crop also can be used for pies, soups and other culinary purposes.
“I think squash can be a little intimidating,” Goerger remarked. “‘Do I slice it, roast it—what do I do with this thing?’”
Even the farm’s “most intimidating” variety—the towering cushaw squash—has a place in the kitchen.
“You need power tools to break it down,” she laughed.
Some customers enjoy slicing and cooking the cushaw’s neck with onions, and its smooth texture and sweet taste make for a delicious substitute in pumpkin pie.
When it comes to preparing her acorn squash, Goerger recommends her grandmother’s tried-and-true method of hallowing out the squash, filling it with cooked stuffing mix and sausage, and baking it in the oven.
Goerger favors her butternut squash in any soup or stew, while her 6-year-old son loves it in muffins.
“It melts into anything you cook. The sweetness is there, but it doesn’t have that really pronounced pumpkin flavor,” she explained. “It also can replace apples in recipes.”
Visitors to the Goerger Farms Pumpkin Patch in Smithfield can celebrate the season by venturing through the farm’s corn maze and exploring an array of decorative and edible pre-picked and pick-your-own options through Oct. 31.
“We really enjoy introducing people to agriculture,” Goerger shared. “You can go out, see something growing, snip it off a vine and be more connected to the land and communities around us.”
Gallmeyer most enjoys seeing generations of families making memories at his pumpkin patch—picking their own pumpkins and squash, exploring the straw bale maze, and enjoying hayrides and other fall festivities through Halloween.
“We started doing this in 1994, and we’ve got people who were coming in as young adults that are now bringing their grandchildren,” he reflected.
-Virginia Farm Bureau
