I just finished steaming another plump butternut after the zen ritual of peeling it and tossing the seeds for squirrels and Janet's hens. I only put a quarter inch of water and some sea salt in the kettle, put the lid on and wait for the steam to do its work.When it has a nice consistency like slightly thick batter, I whisk things in like Parmesan, although any number of other cheeses from manchego to feta will work as well, some Bells seasoning, butter, sour cream, pimenton la vera, white pepper and Old Bay seasoning. Whee! Blue Hubbard is another squash variety that would work well. Those smaller acorn squash things work better cut in half and baked with say, honey, butter and cinnamon or nutmeg.
When I was a kid growing up in Reading MA, my ancient great grandmother and I would grow blue hubbards and lay them in a cardboard box in the basement, a natural root cellar and damn if they didn't stay in good shape until Easter. We were doing a form of permaculture then, we just didn't know it.
I realized it is just an elaborate euphemism for working with the given. Squash growing is an old New England thing. I have a feeling it will be a core crop here as the region finds its sustainable way.
I'm quite sincere about wanting this space to be as useful as possible so I did a check of Google sustainability groups and a vivacious group based near the Utah Canyonlands graciously welcomed me into their midst if puzzled by why I'd want to.
An important aspect of my idea of sustainability turns on wise adaptation to the sense of place a biome defines. To this end I am looking at elements of a sustainability shift in a moist continental climate comprised mainly of mixed deciduous, mainly, oak forests. It also meets the ocean where it is part of the very southern edge of the boreal littoral, (north of Cape Cod).
Among the elements I identified that would be part of the mix I'd include sustainable farming/permaculture, Biogas production from the huge metro waste water systems or hydrokinetic potential in the currents of the Great Bay, New Hampshire and the region near Cobscook Bay Maine and the Fundy tides.
The absolutely shabby greater Boston public transit system would be another core priority as well as its relations to the region. The large lingering number of shabby legacy structures in the urban core make for a bloated carbon footprint and suggest the critical need for retrofitting.
An urban region that pumps an avalanche of trash needs to move beyond recycling to source reduction of nearly every consumable.
The Canyonlands will have significantly different elements such as water conservation and many potential applications for geo-thermal heating and cooling. The role of wind and solar will be far more prominent. Farming and Permaculture will have different potentials.
Despite the differences in the two biomes, the gathered array of resources here are of value to parties in both areas and so it would go for any discrete biome within the reach of the web.
So Canyonlands visitors, Make yourselves at home and questions are welcome.
