This pumpkin could make some serious pie

This past weekend I made a most fabulous Maple Glazed Pumpkin Cake. It was quite impressive partly because it was a gluten free/wheat free/dairy free cake (I made it for friends that follow that type of diet) and also impressive because it was the moistest cake I think I've ever had.
I casually mentioned that I made it with pumpkin I had left in the freezer from last season. They joked, "you mean not pumpkin from a can?" and "you mean pumpkin comes some other way than in a can?". Seriously, you are missing out if you've never actually had fresh pumpkin. It is a variety of squash and can be cooked like most other winter squash. The only problem is it's size. You will see, however, that there are generally separate types of pumpkin sold - for carving/decorating and for cooking (the cooking ones are much smaller). I usually cut it down in to small parts, cut the seeds and the rind off and then steam in batches in my steamer over a pot of boiling water. I then puree it in the food processor and freeze for pie, cake, bread, muffins and more.
Which brings me to the local part. It is pumpkin season and at least in our part of the world you can even drive by patches in random spots (across the street from an airport??). Very near us in Shakopee is Peter's Pumpkins, Seever's (they have a great corn maze and I believe the patch by the aforementioned airport. The only other one I've been to is in Bemidji at the Lazy Acres Farm, which also has a corn maze. This time of year many of the apple orchards sell pumpkins, and the pumpkin patches have corn mazes so you can get apples, pumpkins and some entertainment too. If you have a great pumpkin patch or maze I'd love to hear about it!