Squeezing the Season

I like to squeeze every drop of each season out of it's three month window as much as possible. Spring has to be excessively springy in my house, Summer like deckchairs on Brighton pier, winter like Narnia and Autumn is no exception.
I look for events or places to go that celebrate the season and on our local countryside travels I just have to stop for an Autumn bunch of flowers.  Roadside sellers and honesty boxes make my heart sing! I've bought flowers (of course), eggs, new potatoes, hanging baskets, bunches of holly and carved wooden mushrooms to name a few after a quick 'Stop the car!' It was dahlias this week and they are the most gorgeous bunch of flowers - until the next ones :)

Another perfect place to squeeze the season is the farm shop. In summer we came here picking strawberries, raspberries and gooseberries. A fun place with tractors for Little Bird and wonderful seasonal displays - now it's pumpkins and squashes which I fear I may be boring you all with. Sorry, I'm  just still squeezing drops of autumn with every crunchy russet leaf, conker and Jack O'Lantern. One thing that did surprise me was all the pumpkins left rotting, very sad indeed! Perhaps they aren't as popular as I thought as an Autumn culinary treat. Are we still fairly new to it's versatility in the UK? I suppose so, my parents don't really cook them. My dad has grown then this year but are scratching their heads for recipes and mum seems daunted by them. Do you cook with them, just wondering?