easy pumpkin soup and the great turf war

There's been a turf war going on at the farm.

It started when a mate brought me a seriously tasty pumpkin from her dad's garden. It'd been so long since I'd tasted pumpkin so good that I saved the seeds. The girls planted them in the garden and I promptly forgot about them.

What happened then borrows from the yarn about Jack and his beanstalk. Overnight the pumpkin vine grew and grew.

It grew until it was covering the entire veggie patch. Then it grew over the sides of the garden. Then it grew over the lawn. And that's where the turf war began.

The girls were incredibly proud of their pumpkin vine. Bearhands is incredibly proud of his turf. Every time Bearhands mowed the lawn the protruding pumpkin vine was lifted and returned to the veggie patch. The pumpkin vine, of course, did what pumpkin vines do and kept encroaching on Bearhand's precious lawn.

One day Bearhands threatened to end the turf war once and for all. And that's when the pumpkin vine played it's trump card.

It set a beautiful big pumpkin at the very extremity of it's reach. In the middle of lawn next to the kids' swing set. Bearhands was snookered. The girls watched the pumpkin grow and grow. A friend and pumpkin farmer gave them some advice about picking the pumpkin - it would be much sweeter if we waited until the stem dried up.

By the time it came time to harvest their crop, it was evident that the pumpkin vine had won the turf war.

easy pumpkin soup

Ingredients:

splash olive oil
2 brown onions, diced
1.6kg pumpkin, peeled and cut into pieces
1 litre chicken stock
250ml cream
salt and pepper to taste

Method: 

Gently sweat the onions with the olive oil in a large saucepan.
Add the pumpkin and stock and simmer until the pumpkin pieces are tender.Remove from heat.
Blend with a stick blender until smooth.
Add cream and blend again. Return to the stove and season to taste. (Don't let the soup to boil after adding cream or it may split).

The turf war was all but forgotten after we'd eaten pumpkin cake, pumpkin scones and this easy pumpkin soup. Plus lawn grew back eventually. Don't you just love a happy ending?

is there a turf war raging at your place?