God’s Perfect Bounty: Our Natural Survival Garden- Part 3, by D.M.

Today, I’m finishing my article on some of the plants God provided for our survival. I’ve written on the American beautyberry and its medicinal, culinary, and decorative uses, including recipes. Most recently, I’ve been talking about the Seminole squash (or pumpkin, as it is sometimes called), which also has many uses. I’m currently sharing about culinary uses.

Seminole Squash (continued)

Ways to Eat Seminole Squash

Young stems, flowers, and leaves of Seminole squash can be eaten as a green vegetable or added to soups. The squash can be eaten raw, stuffed, fried, baked, mashed, roasted, steamed, boiled, or dried.

The fully ripe squash can be cooked as a winter squash, such as butternut or acorn. I’ve tried steaming or roasting them and then taking the meat out of the shell, mash with butter and cinnamon, and then add some pecan pieces. My family liked it. You can also add brown sugar like mashed sweet potatoes or use it as a pumpkin, too!

Used as Pumpkin Puree

I made pumpkin puree with it by cutting it in half and removing seeds and strings. I then placed it face down in the microwave on high for 5-6 minutes, until it was tender. Allow the pumpkin to cool slightly, then scoop the squash meat into a blender, and puree until it’s smooth. (This puree can be stored in the refrigerator for up to two or three weeks, or it can be frozen or canned.) (South Seminole Farm and Nursery)

I used the puree to make pumpkin pie. My family thought it was better than pumpkin pie. I will be making this pie for Thanksgiving instead of the traditional pumpkin pie.

Recipe for Seminole Pumpkin Pie

Best Seminole Pumpkin Pie

• 1½ cups of Seminole puree
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2/3 cups milk (I used canned evaporated milk.)
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• ½ teaspoon of ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon cloves
• 1½ teaspoon of vanilla extract
• dash of ground ginger
• 1 unbaked 9” pie crust

1. Combine pumpkin puree, brown sugar, and spices; mix.
2. Add milk, gradually stirring as you go.
3. Add eggs; mix.
4. Pour into unbaked pie crust.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 55-60 minutes; it’s done when a knife inserted into center comes out clean.

Pumpkin Bread

Another recipe I tried using the puree was pumpkin bread. My 2½ year old niece kept calling it cake. She loved it!

Dried Squash/Pumpkin

The fruit of the Seminole squash can be dried by cutting it into strips and drying it for later use. Then, it can be ground into a meal to use for bread baking.

Seeds

Save the seeds not only for planting but also for sharing. They will make a good barter item as well.

Additionally, you can eat the seed raw or roasted. My mom took the seeds, rinsed them, and put them on a cookie sheet that has been greased with butter. She added red chili pepper flakes, pepper, and salt, and then roasted in the oven at 400 degrees for 10-15 min. The seeds are loaded with nutrients. You can dry the seeds for use later, the same way you would dry the squash slices by laying on a screen and putting a second screen on top of them then putting the this in the sun or somewhere in your home where it can dry. Or, you may choose to use a dehydrator for this purpose. Later, you can grind the seeds and use the results to make a gruel (a type of hot breakfast cereal).

Other Recipes

Other recipes out there are pumpkin soup recipes or try the traditional Seminole squash/pumpkin bread. Do your research and look up other Seminole squash/pumpkin recipes and experiment with them.

This squash/pumpkin can be used for breakfast in the form of the gruel (hot cereal) and bread, for lunch as soup and bread, or for dinner as a vegetable, and not only the squash but also the flowers and greens. It can also be a dessert, like pumpkin pie or pumpkin bread/cake. Isn’t that amazing! What other vegetable has so many uses?

Chickens

My chickens love the raw seeds and strings. They also go crazy over the leftover cooked peelings. I just take the whole shell, after scooping out the flesh (when not cooked with butter in it), put it out there with my chickens and let them have at it. Another plus, my chickens won’t go hungry when SHTF.

Decor

Whether you call it a squash or a pumpkin, pick it when the skin is green or buff and use both for fall decorations! Also, you can use it as a dye!

Survival Garden Provided By God

We moved to our bug out location 16 months ago, and I immediately started a vegetable garden calling it an experiment rather than a garden. In addition, I have found a survival garden already provided by God’s bounty. I didn’t have to plant it or take care of it. God does it for me. I don’t have to fertilize it, and there are no pesticides. My job was to do the research and gain the knowledge to use it for our survival. Remember, this is all growing naturally without a garden plot. However, nurturing it will produce bigger fruit and be more bountiful.

We went to a festival in our new location. They had not only the usual vendors but information booths and how-to booths. We learned to thatch a hut or roof, make baskets, make rope, and make arrows and fish traps using things growing in our area. They gave a nature walk on edible weeds and wildflowers. (We had been on one in south Florida with Green Deane “Eat the Weeds”. It cost money, but was well worth it.)

This one was free, and we were the only names on the list to go. The guide was going to go in an hour, so we toured the festival until the time to go. We checked with the guide an hour later to find we still were the only ones signed up. He decided to wait another 15 minutes to see if any others came. No one did, so we got the personal tour. Wow! We were amazed at all of the edible weeds out there that God provided for our survival. It is amazing to see and taste them.

Purslane

Did you know a weed called Purslane taste like salt and can be used as a salt seasoning? You can put it in soups and stews or sauté and eat it as a vegetable.

Abundance of Wild Thing Growing

I’ve found that we have an abundance of wild things growing in my area to use. My brother moved to the area six years ago and had identified a lot of the local wild plants and trees. He showed them to me, teaching me how to identify them myself. He has been instrumental in my deciding to do the research and find the multiple uses of God’s Bounty. My brother knows all of the botanical names, which I will not list, hoping you will start doing some research.

These are just a few of the things we have found: grapes, blackberries elderberries, plums, sassafras, persimmons, ground cherries, rattlesnake root, which we’ve used in salads and sautéed. It tastes delicious and is similar to a water chestnut. Green briar vines get a tender young tip on it that taste similar to asparagus. We used it in salads, cooked it, and eat it raw. We’ve added to our survival garden with Seminole squash, Everglade tomatoes, and air yams, planting them around our wooded area rather than in the garden so as to preserve the natural survival garden. There are a multitude of weeds and wildflowers that can be used in a variety of ways. I do the research and then experiment.

Tinctures

The spices and herbs you cook with everyday have medicinal properties and can be used to make tinctures. We make rosemary, oregano, olive leaf, beautyberry, thyme, and spearmint tinctures, and we use them. When we have a respiratory problem, we take the rosemary tincture, which is also good for fungal infections including nail fungal infections. Olive leaf is a natural viral antibiotic. Beautyberry is used for the sore throat.

Research and Experiment On Your Own

Again, I urge you to do the research and experiment! God’s perfect bounty and his love for us is the gift of a natural survival garden for us to use.

In doing research on the Seminole squash/pumpkin, these are some of the sites I used: Garden.org, Echo.com, Authenticflorida.com, SouthSeminoleFarmandNurserys.com, Nanasgreenecs.com, Herbpathy.com, and Chron.com

See Also:

• 1 – God’s Perfect Bounty: Our Natural Survival Garden, by D.M.
• 2 – God’s Perfect Bounty: Our Natural Survival Garden, by D.M.

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

This has been part three of a three part entry for Round 73 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $11,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

1. A $3000 gift certificate towards a Sol-Ark Solar Generator from Veteran owned Portable Solar LLC. The only EMP Hardened Solar Generator System available to the public.
2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,095 value),
3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper. These have hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels and a hard case, to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel. This can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools. It also provides a compact carry capability in a hard case or in 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
6. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
7. Two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value), and
8. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Second Prize:

1. A Model 175 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a $439 value),
2. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
3. A gift certificate for any two or three-day class from Max Velocity Tactical (a $600 value),
4. A transferable certificate for a two-day Ultimate Bug Out Course from Florida Firearms Training (a $400 value),
5. A Trekker IV™ Four-Person Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $250 value),
6. A $200 gift certificate good towards any books published by PrepperPress.com,
7. A pre-selected assortment of military surplus gear from CJL Enterprize (a $300 value), and
8. RepackBox is providing a $300 gift certificate to their site.

Third Prize:

1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
2. A large handmade clothes drying rack, a washboard, and a Homesteading for Beginners DVD, all courtesy of The Homestead Store, with a combined value of $206,
3. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
5. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances, and
6. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).

Round 73 ends on November 30th, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.