Hello Hive
A beautiful new morning to us all, I hope that our night was blessed and restful.
Yesterday was a fluted pumpkin harvest day and the women were at work with the knives cutting and preparing vegetables for sale at the market. Due to popular demand for this particular vegetable the market women followed us to the farm to come and get their supply of fluted pumpkin that will be sold at the market
There are guidelines regarding the harvest of fluted pumpkin and it is more preferable to carry out the harvest with knives than with our bare hands.
This is a perennial crop in which it can last for more than two years. But since harvest is often consistent, we often allow the crop to die off after a year. Once it gets to more than a year been a commercial product the leaves will begin to harden and no longer become soft enough for consumption.
For the other type which I usually plant at home without much of a frequent harvest, the leaves often remain young and fresh over a long period of at least 2-3year. Imagine planting a vegetable and being able to continually eat from it for 2years
The harvest is often done with knives in order to cut it properly and preserve the stem of the plant
so that it can continue producing. If the stems are not cut rightly the plant begins to dry up right from the location of the knife cut Cutting of the stem is also done systematically. Most times an adult with experience is preferred whenever harvest is to be done.
The pumpkins were then tied in tiny bundles that will be sold at the market
I also got a little portion I will be taking home for our own meal