I grew Hopi black squash this year. It's a rare, almost unheard of heirloom Hopi indian squash. I haven't had the seed for very long. They grew quite well this year and I finally had enough seed to sell some on my site for the first time!

I also have rare Hopi pale gray squash seeds. I plan to grow both next year, separated by about 500 meters for purity!

I like growing several varieities of rare and interesting types of squash!

Most winter squash make excellent pies. We like them better for pies and baking than pumpkin. They are sweeter, less stringy and don't have the aftertaste pumpkin often has. We like our Hopi Indian black squash the best for a lot of reasons. You can see them here "The Perfect Squash". I like them because they are so meaty with a small seed cavity, the rind is soft enough to cut into with a good knife (you need an axe to cut up a hubbard squash!), they are sweet and less stringy.

It's the only maxima squash we grow now. We grew a lot of different ones at one time but I got tired of preventing cross pollination, so we only grow the one maxima. We think it's the best. It's an old rare heirloom squash so the seeds will grow pure if there are no other maximas growing nearby.

We do grow other squash/pumpkins, one from each of the other families so there's no cross pollination.

I grow it here and I live in Ontario, however, I usually start it early indoors but the ones I direct plant grow well and produce fruit too.

I'm a lot further north than you are in MO :-)