Pumpkin

Long before it became a autumn icon, pumpkin was one of the Three Sisters, grown alongside corn and beans by Indigenous peoples across North America who relied on its flesh for winter storage and its seeds for both food and medicine. Across many cultures, the flesh was baked, dried, and ground into flour to see families through lean months, while the seeds were chewed or steeped as a traditional remedy for intestinal worms and to ease urinary discomfort. European and Latin American folk healers later carried on the pumpkin seed tradition, favoring the pale green kernels as a gentle, food-based tonic for aging bladders and prostates. It has always been a plant that fed people first and healed them quietly along the way.