INNformer #133

INNformer #133       Nov 18 Winter greetings to our Mainlanders, Islanders and all our Pumpkinologists, Yes, I said Winter. We’ve received our first light snowfall on central Whidbey this week and the temperature in the morning has been flirting with freezing. Most trees have lost a majority of their golden leaves, our clocks have once again fallen behind and we’ve lit our first fire in the fireplace. One thing nice about Winters arrival is that Spring is a bit closer and the pumpkin seed will begin its cycle once again. Speaking of seeds….. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the largest seed in the world is that of the giant fan palm Locoicea maldivica, commonly known as the double coconut or coco de mer near the Indian Ocean. It can weigh up to 44 lbs. and may take 10 years to develop. A single seed may be 12 inches long and nearly 3 feet in circumference. The smallest seed comes from the epiphytic orchid found in tropical rain forests and totals about 35 million seeds per ounce! That’s right, one seed weighs about one 35 millionths of an ounce. Orchid seeds are dispersed into the air like minute dust particles or single-celled spores, eventually coming to rest in the upper canopy of rain forest trees. Our professional seed counters. ” Because the month is 10, the temperature is 61, I have 4 grandchildren and I picked 122 apples and 92 pears, it’s obvious Pumpky has 289 seeds.” ” If Pumpkinstilskin weighed 108 pounds and the Anchorage Inn has 7 rooms, I’ll guess 756 seeds.” ” Mary says pumpkin has 7 letters. Pumpkinstilskin has 15 = 715 seeds. That wasn’t hard.” Pumpkinstilskin sat proudly on our front lawn, patiently awaiting the arrival of Nov 11th. One year, 2006, my pumpkin “Brooklynn” was so dense that it only had room to produce 21 seeds. My first pumpkin “Wylie” which was my biggest ever, had 427 seeds. We had 22 folks send in their guesses this year. They ranged from 21 to 5,555 seeds. Together, our visiting son, daughter-in-law and 3 grand daughters, opened Pumpkinstilskin by first removed his crow-pecked, sunken and scarred area and then peeked in. And what did we see??? A bright orange interior with only a few visible seeds! Portion by portion, As the sky grew darker and raindrops began to fall, I quickly cut out 1-2 lb sections. Just like a well lubricated pumpkin machine, we quickly bagged sections, scooped out slippery seeds and stuff and ran for shelter before getting too wet. Into the kitchen we took our bucket of orange slop and began the slimey job of searching and counting. Well, Pumpky had 264 seeds. Our winner, the closest, without going over, was Ed and Judy V. with a guess of 247. And the closest to the total was Wendie N. and Mike B. with a guess of 268 to win honorable mention. Good job everyone. What do you do with 108 pounds of pumpkin? Our son said we ought to make pumpkin pie. We all love pumpkin pie, so why not? So we gathered up 2 big chunks and went to Google. We found our instructions and the whole family got involved and like a well lubricated pumpkin pie machine we began. It wasn’t difficult but it was time consuming. After 3 hours we had made 2 pies included their crusts and they were delicious. This will be a family tradition I’m sure! The rest of the chunks went to our local farm to feed the cattle in exchange for some cow pies for next year’s garden.   World travelers since we last spoke have been Ireland and Canada. Returning Guests that have been awarded Anchorage Inn discounts since our last INNformer totaled: 3rd & 4th visit           reservation for the 10% Pancake discount = 6 5th thru 9th visit       reservation for the 12% Omelet discount = 1 10th thru 19th visit   reservation for the 15% Quiche discount = 0 20 or more visits      reservation for the 20% French Toast discount = 2 That’s quite a turnout of Pancake patrons!!!! Coupeville – The shortest distance to far away. Your innkeepers, Dave and Dianne