Best Bites: Happy Halloween roasted garlic pesto pumpkin soup | Green Pumpkin Seeds Kernel

With buckwheat groats, gluten-free oats, coconut oil, and sunflower butter, this nut-free and vegan granola is safe to serve to just about anyone. Forget the yogurt; you’ll be eating this by the handful.

Among other restaurants adding pumpkin to their menus is Vallozzi’s Pittsburgh, with its Pumpkin Ravioli made with pumpkin mascarpone, black walnuts, Swiss chard and brown butter, and a special cocktail created with pumpkin-spice infused mescal, cynar, Orchard Cherry and Woodford Reserve Spiced Cherry Bitters.

Corn. Crows and game birds love whole corn. At backyard feeders whole corn also attracts jays and doves. Unfortunately, it’s also a favorite of pigeons, grackles, and squirrels.

Seeds for people to eat can be hulled and eaten raw or used for baking. They can be hulled and fried or roasted, including roasting in the shell. Michigan State University Extension offers suggestions on how to prepare and preserve your sunflower seeds for snacks or in baked goods.

During one of those stints, Adreveno challenged the leaders of another pumpkin town, Circleville, Ohio, to a weigh-off. The California community put up the biggest plant, and it has proclaimed its pumpkin dominance ever since.

“I’ve made a lot of new friends in the industry,” Jay says. “I’ve even traveled overseas to take a course on milling oats from start to finish.”

Though, if you’re already a fan of Ethiopian cuisine, you’ll feel right at home with Eritrean dishes. The simmered stews and earthly flavors balance with the slightly acidic injera.

Now that we’re officially into summer (hip hip hurrah!) watermelon is a constant in the shopping cart.

Vines the size of garden hoses coil over the ground. Knee-deep leaves cover the yard. A bedsheet cloaks a mysterious blob.

Speaking of super foods, chia seeds are also getting lots of play for their purported nutritional benefits. They are part of the All Day Breakfast Açaí Bowl alongside fruits, granola and cacao nibs at four-unit Happy & Hale, which is headquartered in Raleigh, N.C. Nutrition, however, is likely secondary at Compère Lapin, the lauded Caribbean-Creole operation in New Orleans, where the Chia Seed & Coconut Pudding served with fresh berries provides a sweet finish during brunch.

“I was pleased,” Geddes said. “I knew right away it was the second biggest ever. When you’re involved, you know what’s been grown and what hasn’t been grown.”

The harvest of Vermont’s first-ever one-ton pumpkin in late September remains a big deal in certain circles.