Have you ever wandered the aisles of a grocery store mesmerized by the myriad of on-brand, off-brand, and every other kind of brand of canned foods? This time of year had us pontificating on pumpkin – canned pumpkin, that is. How lucky we are to be able to take a can of already squished-up squash, and avoid the prep work involved in baking with fresh-from-the-garden pumpkins. However, such was not the case for our ancestral pioneering ranchers who originally settled our beloved Big Sky country. And, such is still not the case for avid Montana gardeners who maintain a pioneer-like practice of growing all they need to survive.
Now, it happens to be the season for all things pumpkin. If you’re a dedicated gardener who’s ready to harvest a home-grown pumpkin patch, but uncertain what to do with those orange giants, we have some recommendations for you. First, you’ll need to make a puree out of your pumpkins in order for the following recipe suggestion to be truly “made from scratch”. Luckily, Food Network has ultra-easy instructions on how to take your pumpkins from patch to puree: check 
out – Easy Pumpkin Puree. Once you’ve got your puree ready, we recommend using it in a simple recipe we’ve sourced from Pinterest. This recipe also happens to have been a seasonal feature on our on recent fall menu: check out – Pumpkin Spiced Bread Pudding. Though McGills Restaurant & Saloon is currently closed for the local shoulder season, you can still make a private dinner reservation by visiting the restaurant’s new and recently published website.
If you’ve never grown your own squash, but that recipe got you feeling motivated to get gardening (and cooking!), southwest Montana is a perfect place to begin. This is because the timing of southwest Montana seasons falls in exact rhythm with the timing of a pumpkin’s growth cycle. In this region, the last of late spring frosts tend to fall around end of May or beginning of June. That is when you’ll plant your pumpkins, which leaves about four months of warm weather for them to grow. Then, early fall frosts in September mark the end of that growth cycle. This places harvest time right around when we’re all conveniently craving pumpkin flavored foods and beverages. Contrary to common ideology – that pumpkins and squash grow well here due to colder climate – these veggies only ever became fall favorites because their harvest period falls, well, in fall.
Another motivator for those interested in starting their own pumpkin patch is that these sizeable squashes come with nutritional benefits. We must admit, our priority in explaining these is to have a scientifically-based excuse to eat a second slice of pumpkin pie, and leave Thanksgiving dinner with a notguilty conscience. The number one benefit you can boast to any who chide you for that second slice is that pumpkin contains Vitamin A – better known as beta-carotene – which helps keep skin healthy. Vitamin A also functions as protection against the sun’s harmful UV rays, which aides in prevention of skin cancer. Despite that cool factoid, we do suggest that when you come to visit 320 Guest Ranch, keep in mind that, here in Gallatin Gateway, we’re 7000 ft. above sea level. So, no matter how many pumpkins you’ve consumed lately, we suggest still slathering on some sunscreen when you’re as high in elevation as we are.
The overall benefit of a pumpkin patch garden to table approach is not just healthy skin and hearty meals; it’s a perk for good ol’ mother nature too. This is due to the fact that a pumpkin picked right off the vine lacks packaging. Garden to table means no plastic, no aluminum, no waste in general. And that kind of love for mother nature is something 320 Guest Ranch has and will always make an effort to uphold. A perfect example of our environmentally conscious objectives is our onsite Café. You can get all the nitty gritty details on that by clicking on over to another of our blogs, From Guest Cabin to Conscientious Café.
Whether it’s a garden to table meal you crave, or rather a night out at 320 Ranch’s McGill’s Restaurant & Saloon, we hope the season brings you a pumpkin-licious plethora of good eats, good company, and many, many good memories.
Reid Morth – Morth Photography – @morth_photo