Quite by accident, I found out about the wonderful qualities of heirloom pumpkins, to be used as food for my poultry. I was in competition with someone with a local nursery from whom I had been procuring my pumpkins from each year. They got first dibs. When the nursery finally called me to come pick up the pumpkins that were left, I was a bit dismayed to find that all the regular carving pumpkins had been taken, and all that were left were the heirloom pumpkins.

Odd in shape, and smaller, I had no experience with using them. Heirloom pumpkins are usually sold for qute a high price so although I admired their unique beauty, I had never bought any. But, that is all the nursery had to offer, and since they were free, I was not going to complain. So I loaded up a whole truck load and carted them home. I found out that although smaller in size, they were really dense with meat. The heirloom pumpkins also had thicker skins that were nicely suited long term storage. These were two things I found to be a great addition to what the traditional carving pumpkins offered. Names like Musquee de Provence, Rouge uif d E tampes and Cheronskaya told me thse pumpkins came from other countries like France and Italy. These pumpkins are a great addition as natural food for your poultry.