Squash Atlas, at last!

"The world is very heavy!" my 4-year-old declared when I took this shot. And so is this banana squash, weighing in at 45 pounds. Our contest winners (way back in the day!) are Zachary and Jennifer, with their guess of 47 pounds. They win a self-administered pat on the back for their garden mass mastery.

Since harvest I've been cooking other squashes into soups and muffins and more, but I haven't yet had the heart to cut into this one. And by heart I don't mean I'm concerned about keeping the squash whole. I'm too wimpy to cut into it, knowing that once I start there's no turning back. I'll have to cook all of it so it can be frozen. Not to mention I'm not sure how to best carve it. Anyone have a culinary chain saw?

The beauty of winter squashes is that they're great keepers, and this one is no exception. Such a keeper, that we're so used to it hanging out in our dining room, we're puzzled when visitors point out the unusual.

By the way, this squash proves that there is practically no limit to what can be grown vertically. I trained its vine alongside our fence to save space on the garden floor. The squash started forming from a flower two or three feet above the ground, but eventually filled out the distance. Maybe that's why it grew so big -- just to touch the soil that nourished it!

Jennifer