The children were out in full force on the Heath homestead, ordered from shortest to tallest, Maisie holding a cantaloupe-sized pumpkin, James a jack-o’lantern variety, Kate a watermelon-sized one, and Gerald a 10-pound monster too big to fit a stockpot.
“Over here!” yelled James, dropping his pumpkin on the ground as he stumbled upon a twisted gourd. The others ran across a pile of tangled vines to inspect this new find. Dad had requested white pumpkins this year for pie-making – but they’d already delivered him those, and were free to collect whatever golden-orange yellow-green squashes they could find scattered over the unkempt land behind the farmhouse.
As the tawny sun shone down on their heads, Maisie detached herself from the others and plodded over to the six big oak trees lining the front yard.
“Leaves!” she shouted, holding her arms up in the air. “Leaves, leaves, leaves!” She twirled around and tipped sideways, falling into a crunchy leaf pile.
A man in a beige sheepskin jacket watched her and chuckled.
“You okay there, Maisie?” he said, leaning against the rake he was holding.
Maisie looked up at him from the leaf pile. “Look, Daddy,” she said. She held up a handful of leaves and let the bright colors drop onto her face.
The man grinned and extracted Maisie from the pile, swinging her onto his shoulders. “Why don’t we go make some pie?”
“But the leaves!” she said, her arms outstretched.
Maisie’s father bent down and sandwiched a leaf pile against his rake. “I’ll bring these in, and you can pick out the pretty ones, okay?”
They headed inside, where Mr. Heath set to chopping and grinding the cooked orange flesh of the white pumpkins on the counter while Maisie picked out the prettiest leaves from the pile. She glanced over at the satin mixture her dad was churning.
“Yummy.”
Mr. Heath handed Maisie a spoon covered with pie filling, which she held happily between her chubby fingers. The other children filed in, loaded down with gourds which they set in the living room for carving. The night grew brisk, and the smell of allspice and wood smoke filled the air. As the sun went down, Mr. Heath pulled out a cribbage board from the old bookshelf, and the family gathered around the fireplace.
- Cheesecake
- 1.5 c cooked cauliflower, drained
- 2 cups coconut cream (the solid cream from about 2 cans)
- 4 tb coconut oil
- zest of 2-3 large lemons
- juice of 1 lemon
- 4-6 tb honey or ½ cup maple syrup
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tb grassfed gelatin (for V sub agar-agar)
Pumpkin Filling- 3 cups cooked pumpkin
- ¼ c coconut cream
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp each allspice, cloves, mace, ginger, or whatever you have on hand
- ½ cup maple syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 tb grassfed gelatin (for V sub agar-agar)
AIP or Scottish shortbread crust
- Make crust according to instructions.
- Blend cheesecake filling ingredients all together, adding gelatin last. Pour onto set crust and refrigerate for at least four hours.
- Mix pumpkin filling ingredients together, adding gelatin last, and then pour on top of hardened crust + cheesecake filling and refrigerate overnight to set.
Note to the uncautious: these leaves are not actually edible (unless you are a caterpillar. and even then they might cause indigestion)
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