Dormant Squash

This is a story feature going back over a year. But this bizarre end-of-season harvest seemed a good time to send it out into the world. I am not the biggest fan of squash. But since it is in abundance this time of year, I have been trying to find unusual ways to make use of it. (what an odd turn of phrase - "make use of it") After endless recipes for bland zucchini, I just found one that uses it instead of cukes for a good hotdog relish. I have a butternut sitting on the counter to be cooked up into either risotto or a mac n' cheese bake. There are so many varieties out there.

Well here is one from Winnipeg CA. An extinct variety unearthed going back 800 years! It was found during a student archeology dig on sacred land. Somehow the seeds had been hermetically preserved in a clay urn. Even more astounding, is that they harvested said seeds and grew it into a crop of large orange gourds. I have heard similar stories of apple breeds and certainly tons of flowers. It is not unusual to cross pollinate for new strains of a crop. But it is highly unusual to bring a species back from extinction. This leaves something to be said about seed depositories. The most renowned is the Svalbard Vault in Norway. But closer to home is SeedSavers down in IA. Fascinating!