I gave them a little less than one inch of leaf compost the previous November, and that's all. I have not observed a squash bug working the butternuts. The cucumber beetles gather in the blossoms, but cause little damage, and unlike the pumpkins, there are only two to five beetles per blossom. Butternuts are cooked completely and quickly in the microwave oven, and the puree'd flesh is much finer. Butternuts, stored in a cool basement last until April or May in fine condition.
Any gardener can lift a butternut squash.
Compared to squash pie or sweet potato pie, pumpkin pie will lose every time. Butternut squash, puree'd or souped or pied, has flavor, is free of grainy or stringy parts, and the pies stand up well after being removed from heat. If you look hard, you will find some grainy flesh or stringy parts in all the hard shell cucurbits. We eliminate those parts by using only the stem-end flesh, and discarding the half containing the seed cavity. We can be wasteful because the butternuts are such heavy producers.