Squashes

The Puritan work ethic, imported from English farming practices, dictated rigorous standards of labor. The settlers cleared the land, engaged in intensive plowing, and followed a rigid schedule of planting. Their hard work was scantily rewarded. On the other hand the Indians, whom the colonists considered lazy, survived with much less effort. Untroubled by rigid rules, they garnered wild plants, thinned the forest to help spot game, set brush fires to clear the ground, and planted on the previous year's rubble.

In recent years, these farming practices have gained respectability. Smokey Bear now condones controlled burning, selective thinning of forests is rigorously favored over clear-cutting, and many modern farmers, astride tractors, practice no-till agriculture, sowing crops on the rubble of last year's growth.

Thousands of years ago Maya farmers planted corn, beans and squash on mounds they called milpahs, and each year they renewed their planting on the mounds. The milpahs looked littered and in disarray but the plants thrived, and the Maya worshipped the plants as the "three sisters of life"

Two of the sisters, corn and beans, had a special affinity for each other. Cornstalks grew tall and straight, and the beans curled around the stalks with stubborn tendrils. In gratitude, the beans deposited nitrogen in the soil and helped the nitrogen-hungry corn flourish.

Scientists of our time have confirmed the Maya faith in the life-sustaining qualities of this twosome. Corn and beans together possess complementary amino acids found in grains and legumes and thus make up the complex proteins needed to sustain life.

Squash, the third sister of that plant trinity, was the milpah's stern guardian. The broad squash leaves spread across the ground and kept the soil moist. In addition, the leaves' prickly character kept herbivores at a safe distance.

The summer squashes we now enjoy are picked immature and have solid shells and tender flesh. They contain few calories (they're 95 percent water) and if not buttered or fried are good as diet food and make crisp additions to salads.

Winter squashes pack more nutritional wallop. They are mature, hard-shelled members of the gourd family. Uncut they may be stored for as long as three months (well into the lean winter months), and they deliver a rich array of complex carbohydrates. Their yellow or orange flesh is rich in beta carotene which converts to vitamin A.

Acorn, hubbard, butternut, buttercup, turban are just a few of the winter squashes that come in a variety of shapes and sizes. The most conspicuous member of the squash clan is the pumpkin. Mountains of pumpkins are stacked at farm stands in the fall and 99 percent of them are carved into Hallowe’en jack-o-lanterns.

The Hallowe’en holiday originated in the seventh century as "All Hallows' Eve" to honor "all known and unknown saints and martyrs." It was a frightening time when the veil between the living and dead was supposedly lifted. We still have ghouls and goblins to give us the shivers and also the "trick or treat" custom which probably harks back to the Gaelic "soul cake" offerings to beneficiaries who vowed to pray for good harvests.