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At the Oiselet educational farm, Rose Combe oversees a collection of about fifty varieties of pumpkin. During the holidays, she introduces children to this vegetable, which can be cooked, or transformed into a decorative object.

By Chantal Sarrazin - November 14, 2011

”The Halloween pumpkin doesn’t grow here!” Like every fall, Rose Combe welcomes children to the Oiselet farm in the village of Sarrians with this phrase. The faces frown, but smooth out once they enter the vegetable garden. “My aim is, above all, to introduce them to this vegetable, its shapes, its uses” via a fun, educational and cheerful walk.

Orange, green, purple, shaped like cocked hats, round, oblong, small, big… here there are as many varieties of pumpkins as there are eyes to contemplate them. Rose began her collection about twenty years ago. Today, she cultivates about 50

old varieties. “We categorize them 

according to two classes,” she explains, “decorative pumpkins and edible ones.” Oddly, the former are pollinated at night by butterflies. Their skin is soft to touch. In this category is the Lageneria or calabash, which was once used to make gourds. It’s also used to make jewelry boxes, rattles, and seed bags… The round pumpkin, with a stomach like Obelix, was once used as an amphora or a club for hunting. “Before working them, they must be left to dry,” advises Rose Combe. “Then they are hollowed out to create a thousand different objects, like a

birdhouse, for example.”

And then there are the edible varieties. The most full of flavor? The Muscade de Provence, also known as the “musquée,” native to the region, a bright orange color, fertile, and we have to admit, a rough skin. The “violin” pumpkin, smaller, is without fault. The chestnut-flavored winter pumpkin is cooked and eaten with the skin on, full of vitamins. The Turk’s Turban can be stuffed like a tomato, once its hat’s been removed. Spaghetti squash can be scraped into long thin strips with a fork; the Siam pumpkin in angel hair…. In her garden, Rose pushes the boundaries of this vegetable. The children listen, classify the varieties, and then work them as they wish. Rose suggests they try out their skills on other vegetables too, zucchinis, carrots... At snack time, pumpkin pie and chocolate and pumpkin cake are served. Very tasty!

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Ferme pédagogique de l’Oiselet
1234, chemin des Garrigues de l’etang
84 260 Sarrians
Tél. 04 90 65 57 57
Workshop schedulewww.oiselet.com