Harvest is beginning in our neck of the woods, and even though temperatures are 25+ degrees, fall IS coming, so I thought I would share this harvest favourite of ours. While our 2013 pumpkins are not yet ready,  I did have some frozen pumpkin 'guts' left over from last year's garden which worked great for this recipe. If you dont process your own pumpkins, canned pumpkin works too.

This recipe is SUPER easy and the prep takes almost no time at all, but the results are phenomenal!

Recipe

Filling:
3 large eggs
15 ounces pure pumpkin puree (this worked out to 2 cups of my home-grown pumpkin)
1 can (12 ounces) evaporated milk
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 Tb cornstarch
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt

Optional:
Whipped Cream (who am I kidding, this isn't optional!)

Pie Shell:
I confess, I cheat on my pie shells. I purchase pre-made, frozen pie shells (Tenderflake Deep-Dish are great), which makes whipping up a pie wayyyy too easy! That's why I love this recipe so much- tastey homemade pie that only takes a few minutes of prep work.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Whisk together ingredients in a large bowl and pour into your pie shell. Bake for 50-55 minutes, until you can poke the center with a toothpick and it comes out clean. Enjoy!

This recipe will fill one deep dish pie shell to the top, or two regular pie shells 3/4 of the way.

Hint: If you are using your own processed pumpkin, I recommend you puree it before using. The first time I preserved pumpkin I just boiled large pumpkin meat chunks and then mashed them with a potato masher. This was ok for muffins, but it resulted in a stringy texture in my pies that I wasn't so fond of. Before using my pumpkin this year I put it through a food processor and the texture was smooth and much more to my liking!

With so many different cuts of beef and even more ways to prepare it, sometimes buying and cooking beef can be overwhelming. The Beef 101 guide from Canadian Beef Producers is an excellent overview of the benefits beef can bring to your life (like I need another reason, other than it's delicious, juicy taste! Right?!),  different preparation methods, cook times, cuts and their quality.

As harvest is beginning in many parts of western Canada, it never hurts to freshen up on your farm safety skills. We all have the farm safety guidelines in the back of our minds somewhere, but all too many of us forget to bring them forward during this busy time of year. Visit the government of Alberta's farm safety section on their website by clicking here.
Image Source: Government of Alberta's website http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/aet13918

Whiskey Creek Ranch is a proud supporter of 4-H in Canada. Both myself and Clay were young 4-Her's and I continued to be a part of beef, horse and sheep 4-H until I graduated high school. If those 9 years of 4-H taught me anything (and it taught me A LOT!) it is to live by the 4-H Motto- LEARN TO DO BY DOING! Whether it's grooming a 4-H steer, picking out the perfect meat lamb, working hard to achieve that next level of horsemanship or speaking in front of a crowd confidently, strongly and eloquently, 4-H gives young people the opportunity to grow, develop and become valuable contributing members of their society.

<- Blast from 4-H Past: Jesse & Clay get ready for the 2008 Brooks and Area Show & Sale / Achievement Day by scrubbing Jesse's 4-H Steer!

I would highly encourage any parents looking for activities for their children, to look into the 4-H program. 4-H is offered across Canada (and the world) in big and small communities. It also offers a wide range of projects including livestock, small engines, sewing/home economics, photography, scrapbooking  and the list goes on and on. Basically, if you can dream up a project, you can create a 4-H Club to suit it!
Check out the alberta 4-H website at http://www.4h.ab.ca/ now!
Image Sources: www.4h.ab.ca

Besides supplying you with tasty, tender, mouth watering steaks, the beef industry and Canadian agriculture have some major impacts on our economy!

Check out the Ag More Than Ever movement! This organization focuses its efforts on enlightening  individuals about the Agriculture Industry and all that it does for Canadians. By visiting their website http://www.agmorethanever.ca/ you can become an Agvocate and begin starting positive dialogue and improving perceptions  about our unique, ever-growing, oh-so-important (and exciting!) industry. The website is full of resources to help you get started, with facebook cover photos, twitter backgrounds, informational photos, brochures, etc that let the world know how much you love agriculture and how beneficial it is globally. Check it out!!