A Dozen Pumpkins

I have twelve orange pumpkins in my garden (and a couple of green ones). I didn't even plan to raise pumpkins this year! We had a bit of a warm spell in February, when I noticed there were some pumpkin sprouts in the compost pile, from the seeds of last year's Jack O'Lantern (which came from our garden). I rescued the sprouts and potted them up, keeping them safe and warm til May, then transplanted them into the garden. With that head start, the pumpkin crop is already beyond my wildest dreams. What am I going to do with a dozen pumpkins?

Pumpkins have grown in North and Central America for thousands of years. Native Americans used pumpkins for several types of dishes, such as pumpkin bread, soup, and candy. They dried pumpkin flesh and ground it up to preserve it for later use. They even used dried strips of pumpkin shell to weave into mats. The early settlers, including the Pilgrims, made pumpkin pies by removing the seeds and pouring milk, honey, and spices into a pumpkin, then baking it.

More on pumpkins and what they're for, after the jump.

Some strange things have been done with pumpkins in literature. Peter Peter (the pumpkin eater) kept his wife in a pumpkin shell. Cinderella's fairy godmother turned her pumpkin into a coach, but only til midnight. The headless horseman in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow used a Jack O'Lantern as a reasonable facsimile for his missing head. Jack Pumpkinhead was a character in L. Frank Baum's book The Marvelous Land of Oz and some of the following Oz books.

I could just turn over the pumpkins to my children, but only nine of them, because that would bring to life my favorite memnotic device for remembering the planets. "My very educated mother just served us nine pumpkins." It's no longer valid since Pluto was demoted to dwarf planet status. There are a lot of things you CAN do with a pumpkin. Considering how many I have, there will be a lot of experimenting in my future.

Update from the comments: Marcus suggested any excess pumpkins should go Punkin Chunkin. Jason! found recipes for Roasted Pumpkin in The Shell (with applesauce), and Baked Stuffed Pumpkin (with lots of fruits). Thanks!