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Decorative Heirloom Pumpkins

Posted on September 28, 2023 by urban — No Comments ↓

Pumpkins

Pumpkins are used for decorations around the holidays and are also good to eat. This article will show some of the varieties of pumpkins and ways to decorate with them and save their seeds.

Enjoy,

David Proctor

Decorative & Edible Pumpkins

by David Proctor

September 28, 2023

Urban Farm Lifestyle Magazine Published Weekly

One of the fun activities around Halloween is pumpkin carving.

I have seen some really creative and scary pumpkins come out of my house.

First – Pumpkin nutrition facts

The following is from nutrition and you .

“Pumpkin is one of the most widely grown vegetables, incredibly rich in vital antioxidants, and vitamins.

Though this humble backyard vegetable is low in calories, it carries vitamin A, and flavonoid poly-phenolic antioxidants such as lutein, xanthin, and carotenes in abundance.

Pumpkin is a fast-growing vine that creeps along the surface in a similar fashion to that of other Cucurbitaceae family vegetables and fruits such as cucumber, squash, cantaloupes…etc.

It is one of the most popular field crops cultivated around the world, including in the USA at a commercial scale for its fruit, and seeds.

Pumpkins vary greatly in shape, size, and color. Giant pumpkins generally weigh 8–13 lbs with the largest capable of reaching a weight of over 55 lbs.

Golden-nugget pumpkins are flat, smaller, and feature sweet creamy orange color flesh.

Pumpkins, in general, feature orange or yellow outer skin color; however, some varieties can exhibit dark to pale green, brown, white, red, and gray.

Their color characteristics are largely influenced by yellow-orange pigments in their skin and pulp.

Its thick rind is smooth with light, vertical ribs.

In structure, the fruit features golden-yellow to orange flesh depending upon the poly-phenolic pigments in it.

The fruit has a hollow center, with numerous small, off-white colored seeds interspersed in a net-like structure.”

Second – Saving Pumpkin Seeds

Remove the pulp and seeds from inside the pumpkin. Place this in a colander.
Place the colander under running water. As the water runs over the pulp, start picking out the seeds from the pulp. Rinse them in the running water as you pick them out. Do not let the pumpkin pulp sit in non-running water.
There will be more seeds inside the pumpkin than you’re going to need to use, so once you have a good amount of seeds rinsed, look over them and choose the biggest seeds. Plan on saving 3 times more pumpkin seeds than the number of plants you will be growing next year. Larger seeds will have a better chance of germinating.
Place the rinsed seeds on a dry paper towel. Make sure they are spaced out; otherwise, the seeds will stick to one another.
Place in a cool dry spot for one week.
Once the seeds are dry, store pumpkin seed for planting in an envelope.”

Properly Store Pumpkin Seeds for Planting

“When saving pumpkin seeds, you also need to store them so that they will be ready to plant for next year.

Any seeds, pumpkin or otherwise, will store best if you keep them somewhere cold and dry.

One of the best places to store pumpkin seeds for planting next year is in your refrigerator.

Put your pumpkin seed envelope in a plastic container.

Place several holes in the lid of the container to ensure that condensation does not build up on the inside.

Place the container with the seeds inside at the very back of the fridge.

Next year, when it comes time for planting pumpkin seeds, your pumpkin seeds will be ready to go.

Saving pumpkin seeds is a fun activity for the whole family, as even the smallest hand can help.

And, after you properly store pumpkin seeds for planting, children can also help plant the seeds in your garden.”

Check It Out!

HOW TO MAKE PUMPKIN PIE FROM SCRATCH 6:57
Gilroy Vlogs

Quick Tip

Tips for Growing Great Heirloom Organic Pumpkins

The following quick tip is from T rue Leaf Market.:

“Heirloom Pumpkins do not like wet, soggy soil.

Heirloom pumpkins aren’t too fussy, but if you want really big pumpkins should add lots of great composted manure under each hill of pumpkins.

We dig large holes out about the size of a beach ball and replace it with rich composted humus. To that, we may add a hand full of bone meal and blood meal.

We stir this up really well and use the remaining soil to make our hill. It is on top of this hill we will plant our pumpkin seed.

Organic pumpkins are deep-rooted, water-conserving plants and should be watered deeply and infrequently to encourage good vine and root growth.

Rember organic pumpkins can ramble up to 12′ so give them plenty of space.”

https://www.trueleafmarket.com/collections/garden-pumpkin-seed

Bibliography:

How To Harvest And Store Pumpkin Seeds.” Gardening Know How. N.p., 30 Aug. 2008. Web. 28 Sept. 2023.

“Pumpkin Heirloom Seeds.” Heirloom Pumpkin Seeds. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Sept. 2023.

“Pumpkin Nutrition Facts and Health Benefits.” Nutrition And You.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Sept. 2023

“8 Amazing Pumpkin Nutrition Facts and Health Benefits.” Nutrition And You.com, https://www.nutrition-and-you.com/pumpkin.html.

“Non-Gmo Gardening Seeds & More since 1974.” True Leaf Market, https://www.trueleafmarket.com/.

“Pumpkin Seeds.” True Leaf Market, https://www.trueleafmarket.com/collections/garden-pumpkin-seed.

Process of Breathing

Posted on September 21, 2023 by urban

Breath

The secret to true health is not in what you eat, how much you exercise, or how skinny or fat you are, but in how you breathe.

Enjoy,

David Proctor

Perfect Breath

by David Proctor

September 21, 2023

Urban Farm Lifestyle Magazine Published Weekly

I have never really thought about the process of breathing.

You inhale and you exhale, doesn’t get much simpler than that.

Plus, you don’t have to think about it, you just do it.

Yes, I have thought about breathing but mainly when I didn’t have enough air.

Like when running or swimming underwater or even when the breath is knocked out of yourself.

Then you think about inhaling, not the exhale.

As a reference, I consider an excellent book called “Breath” by James Nestor.

It turns out that we actually breathe too much and do not exhale enough!

I thought that was strange.

To truly breathe correctly the old adage of breathing in the good air and letting out the bad, is that we tend to take shallow breaths and keep too much bad air in.

Stop and think about all the people you may know that have breathing problems like asthma or are mouth breathers.

Breathing through your mouth should only be on exhale if needed.

Improper breathing can lead to changes in the shape of the mouth and even elongation of the facial structure.

Have you ever woken up the next day and felt tired because you didn’t have a good night’s sleep?

One reason for not sleeping well is breathing through the mouth.

This can become so bad that people wear masks or CPAP at night to control this.

Try an experiment on yourself.

I know this may sound strange, but put a small piece of tape on your mouth at night so you will breathe through your nose.

Don’t go to an extreme with this, just a small piece of tape and try this for a week.

You might be surprised at the way you feel after doing this and may want to continue.

Or you can wear a mechanical device that helps you breathe and deal with possible health issues from that.

The book is all about how we take our breath and gives examples of what can change when we change our breathing.

James Nestor points out “the new science of a lost art” in breathing.

Athletes are always looking for a way to improve performance.

Few things will make as big a difference as to how the athlete breathes.

You may be asking yourself well just what is the right way to breathe?

What is the perfect breath?

“The perfect breath is this: Breathe in for about 5.5 seconds, then exhale for 5.5 seconds. That’s 5.5 breaths a minute for a total of about 5.5 liters of air.”

By trying this you will get out what you take in.

It doesn’t stop with just that.

People have had and do have many ailments that with proper breathing, the body can reset its autonomic nervous system.

One way to do this is through “heavy breathing”.

James describes how he was instructed to do the heavy breathing by:

“start by finding a quiet place and lying flat on your back with a pillow under your head.

Relax the shoulders, chest, and legs.

Take a very deep breath into the pit of your stomach and let it back out just as quickly.

Keep breathing this way for 30 cycles.

If possible, breathe through the nose; if the nose feels obstructed, try pursed lips.

Each breath should look like a wave, with the inhale inflating the stomach, then the chest.

You should exhale all the air out in the same order.

At the end of 30 breaths, exhale to the natural conclusion, leaving about a quarter of the air left in the lungs, then hold that breath for as long as possible.

Once you’ve reached your breath-hold limit, take one huge inhale and hold it for another 15 seconds.

Very gently, move that fresh breath of air around the chest and to the shoulders, then exhale and start the heavy breathing again.

Repeat the whole pattern three or four rounds and add in some cold exposure (cold shower or ice bath) a few times a week.”

This type of breathing is called “Tummo” and should never be practiced while driving, walking, or in “any other environment where; you might get hurt if you passout.”

This has been claimed to have helped thousands with illnesses that other treatments had no success with.

If you would like to learn more about breathing correctly for all the benefits this can provide, then please read the book, it is an enjoyable read.