At the start of my farming career I would never have predicted that winter squash would become one of my favorite crops to grow and sell. I thought of them mainly as decorative, and wasn’t familiar with cooking with them much beyond the widely available acorn or butternut types. I liked winter squash, and certainly wasn’t against them as a plant, but just didn’t find them very interesting, plus the sprawling plants took up a lot of real estate where they were growing, and I wasn’t sure it was worth it.
That all changed in 2016, the year I first participated in the Dry Farming Collaborative, an on-farm research project started by the Oregon State University Small Farms Program. I was recruited by Amy Garrett–who went on to help found the Dry Farming Institute–to host a series of crop variety trials on our farm using dry farming practices–that is, growing crops without any irrigation.
Dry farming as a concept wasn’t unfamiliar to me, but I’d become highly motivated to learn about it as we had a large growing area on our farm that was fenced from elk, had great soil, and the potential to be highly productive. The one thing it didn’t have was easy access to irrigation water, and the anticipated irrigation project we’d been working towards with the NRCS for several years had just fallen through. The first year we participated in the trials we grew three crops: zucchini (Dark Star), potato (Yellow Finn), and Delicata squash (Zeppelin). I honestly didn’t think it would work, but all three crops grew really well with no irrigation. I was sold on dry farming as a practice I wanted to learn more about.
It’s now almost a decade later, and I’ve learned a lot about how to dry farm successfully now. I’ve trialed many crops and a lot of varieties over those years, and one crop that has become a favorite of ours–and our customers–are the winter squash. I love how beautiful they are growing in the field, lush plants full of flowers and bees. Then in late September the plants start to die back and you see these glowing colors emerging in the field: deep red-oranges, slate blue, warm yellow, dark green and gold stripes, butterscotch brown, and the bright orange of the pumpkins I can’t help but grow for all the kids in my life.
Since those early trials there has emerged a list of squash varieties that I can’t imagine not growing. Some make sense for our growing region and climate–shorter season, smaller fruited varieties like the red kuri type Potimarron and spaghetti squash Small Wonder. Some shouldn’t really do well here, like the long-season enormous fruited Oregon Homestead Sweet Meat, but for some reason they grow great for us, and although the huge squash can be a hard sell at times (many people are intimidated by a 18 pound squash), I keep growing all of these because they are delicious, beautiful, have stories to tell about their heritage, and add so much to our farming season. Each year I like to trial one or two new (to me) varieties to see if they have potential to be added to our regular rotation, but very few rise up to knock one of our tried and true favorites from the list.
I’m often asked what my favorite way to cook squash is, and honestly the most basic method I use is to cut the squash in half, scoop out the seeds, brush the cut sides with olive oil and roast it, face down, on a parchment paper lined baking sheet at 400ºF for about an hour, or until a knife slides easily into the squash. For extra savory flavor I will sometimes place a few unpeeled garlic cloves in the cavity of the squash. When done, the garlic is perfectly roasted and can be squeezed into the squash puree for an extra punch.
It’s winter squash season again here on Oregon’s north coast, and I’m really enjoying connecting with our squash fans–and making new converts–swapping recipes, talking about strategies for cutting open the infamously hard-shelled Lower Salmon River squash, and just admired how dang beautiful these wonderful squash are.
Potimarron
Potimarron is a gorgeous French heirloom Red Kuri variety with deep orange flesh, flaky and a sweet flavor reminiscent of chestnuts, hence the name in French potiron (pumpkin) and marron (chestnut). Delicious used for soup, risotto, and baked goods. Can be stored for a while, but best eaten before the end of the year.
Stella Blue
A gorgeous kabocha-type squash, Stella Blue has a dryer, flakey deep orange flesh with a lovely nutty flavor. This variety was selected by renowned plant breeder Bill Reynolds under dry farmed conditions, and it’s become a favorite among the dry farming community. Best used by the end of the year.
Delicata Zeppelin
Delicata is one of our favorite squash to cook and eat! Flavorful orange flesh and edible skin make it versatile for roasting, stuffing, sautéing, or soup-making. We’ve grown several different varieties of delicata squash over the years, but Zeppelin always wins the taste tests, so it’s the only delicata for us now! Delicatas are not long storage squash, so use them before the end of the year.
Butternut Butterbush
I had long wanted to grow butternut squash, one of the most popular and well-known squash varieties in America, but I was always daunted by their very long growing season needs. When I found a shorter season butternut squash that adapted to dry farmed growing conditions, I was thrilled! Butterbush is a delicious butternut squash that is wonderful in both sweet and savory recipes alike. Best used within 3-4 months, if you can wait that long!
Spaghetti Squash Small Wonder
I wasn’t much of a fan of spaghetti squash growing up, I think because my mom kept trying to use it in place of actual spaghetti, and it never worked for me. When I first gave growing it a try, I also found the size of the squash a bit too big, and a hard sell for most customers. When I discovered the variety Small Wonder, with its more compact size and great flavor, I overcame my general avoidance of hybrid plant varieties–they are usually owned by some large corporation, sometimes patented which I deeply disagree with, and you can never be sure if it will be consistently available–and gave it a try. I wish there was an open-pollinated version of Small Wonder, because it is just the best spaghetti squash I’ve grown, and it is highly productive for us in dry farmed conditions. When cooked, spaghetti squash flesh can be shredded with a fork into thin noodle-like pieces. Don’t be like my mom and get stuck treating this like a spaghetti substitute though-it has so many flavorful possibilities beyond that! Best used within 3-4 months.
Oregon Homestead Sweet Meat
A PNW heirloom hubbard-type variety, we source our seed for Homestead Sweet Meat from Adaptive Seeds in Sweet Home Oregon. They got their seed from Carol Deppe, seed breeder and author of The Resilient Gardener. Carol spent years working with this variety to select for cool weather hardiness, smaller seed cavity and great flavor. This is a favorite winter squash for many of our customers, who appreciate it for its beautiful blue-green beauty, but more so for its gorgeous flavor-sweet and savory, perfect for whatever winter squash recipe you want to make. Homestead’s size can be intimidating, but plan ahead to freeze whatever cooked portion of it you don’t use right away, and enjoy soups and baked goods all winter long and well into spring. Flavor develops with curing, so wait until at least late November to cook this one.
Lower Salmon River
A taste-test winner on our farm, this is a wonderful heirloom winter squash, and dry farming makes it even better. First bred in Idaho, it has spread throughout the Pacific Northwest as great variety to grow. Flavorful, medium-dry, perfect for both savory and sweet recipes. Lower Salmon River is a great storage variety with a VERY hard shell. (Seriously, you might need a hatchet or power tools to cut it open!) We find it best to cut them in half and roast them, then scoop out the flesh. This is not a squash you should ever try to peel. A farm favorite for soups and stews, pie making, and general baking. Flavor develops with curing, so wait until at least late November to cook this one. Lower Salmon River’s hard shell makes it our longest storing variety–we’ve cut one open in May and had still be in great shape, full of flavor and wonderful to savor just as we are getting ready to plant out a new crop!
2025 Trial Variety: Honeypatch
I chose to look beyond the usually for us disqualifying days-to-maturity for this new-ish butternut type variety (110!) and focus instead on it’s size-described as ‘single serving’, and it’s flavor description ‘concentrated sweetness’. I liked that it had been bred as a collaboration between chef Dan Barber and vegetable breeder Michael Mazourek of Cornell University, aiming for good flavor and small size as breeding goals. Introduced by Row 7 Seed Co., their website is worth a visit for the cooking tips and recipes they have for this variety. Their basic recipe for Honeypatch is “Slice in half lengthwise and remove seeds. Lay face up on sheet tray, brush with oil and season with salt. Cover with foil and roast at 400°F until soft enough to scoop with a spoon. Reserve brown sugar, butter and maple syrup for other uses; you won’t need them.”
I can concur, this is a delicious little squash! We had a decent yield this first year, and they ripened around the end of September like the rest of our squash, not being particularly fussy about timing. They also seemed to respond fairly well to being grown under dry-farmed conditions. The plants were occasionally stressed-looking on very hot days, but overall they hung in there. We did get a lot of quite small fruits-more like a Seckel pear than a Bartlett–but all the ones I’ve eaten so far have been delicious. We’ll definitely trial this one again next year. I’m considering a three butternut variety trial comparing Butterbush, Honeypatch and Honeynut- another smaller-that-normal type of butternut squash. This is the problem with winter squash! I just want to try growing them all.
