Pumpkins
are widely available at
this time of year and many
of them will be used to
make those scary Halloween
lanterns.
Pumpkins are also good to
eat so when you scoop out
the middle to make a lantern,
remember to keep the lovely
orange flesh for our simple
and delicious soup recipe.
The seeds are also very
tasty and good for you.
With careful feeding and
watering, pumpkins can grow
very big. The world record
for the heaviest pumpkin
is currently a massive 783kgs.
As far as we know, the largest
one grown in Cornwall weighed
304kg, but perhaps you know
of a bigger one!
RECIPE
Cornish
cheeses
Cornwall
does not have a long tradition
of cheese-making like Cheshire,
Derbyshire or Somerset where
Cheddar cheese originates.
However, in the last twenty
years making cheese has
become very popular in Cornwall
and now more than sixty
cheeses are regularly produced
here.
The best known Cornish cheeses
are probably Davidstow and
Cornish Yarg. See if you
can find any others when
you go shopping next. The
best places to look for
them are in the farm shops
or farmers markets.
Some, like Cornish Blue,
are made by farmers using
milk from their own cows.
Others are made with goats
milk and there are even
some made with sheeps' milk.
It
used to be the case
that every cottage
in the countryside
had a pig in the back
garden and every farm
kept a few pigs. Pig
sties were a feature
of most farmyards.
The pigs were fed
on swill, which is
boiled up waste food,
and be allowed to
roam around in the
orchard and farmyard
for what they could
find.
Pigs were very useful
for clearing land
of scrubby vegetation.
With their keen interest
in rooting for food
with their noses,
they break up the
ground, and provide
manure to improve
the soil at the same
time.
The family's pigs
were an important
source of meat to
see the family through
the winter and so
making their own bacon
and ham was a regular
event every autumn.
Salting the meat was
the best way of preserving
it in the days before
refrigeration.
Pumpkins
are widely available at
this time of year and many
of them will be used to
make those scary Halloween
lanterns. 
Cornwall
does not have a long tradition
of cheese-making like Cheshire,
Derbyshire or Somerset where
Cheddar cheese originates.
However, in the last twenty
years making cheese has
become very popular in Cornwall
and now more than sixty
cheeses are regularly produced
here. 
It
used to be the case
that every cottage
in the countryside
had a pig in the back
garden and every farm
kept a few pigs. Pig
sties were a feature
of most farmyards.
The pigs were fed
on swill, which is
boiled up waste food,
and be allowed to
roam around in the
orchard and farmyard
for what they could
find. 
