Piles of pumpkins

Pumpkins are native to North America, but they grow on every continent now except Antarctica. The oldest pumpkin seeds are from Mexico and date from between 5,000 and 7,000 BC.  According to good old Wiki, over a billion pounds of pumpkins are grown in the United States each year. 95% of the pumpkins grown for food processing come from Illinois. Ohio, Pennsylvania and California are also big pumpkin producers.

Nothing says fall like a roadside pumpkin patch on an sunny afternoon.

This stand is just outside Enumclaw, and I stopped yesterday on my way home to buy some produce. There's still no rain in the forecast, and nothing but dry, sunny days stretching into October.  

The fields were quiet on a weekday afternoon, and the pumpkins all lined up waiting for kids.

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Each year it seems like there are more sizes, shapes and colors.

Useless (but wonderful) white guys.

Who doesn't love pumpkins? Jack Pumpkin Head is a fictional character from the Wizard of Oz books. He was made by a little boy named Tip out of hickory limbs with a carved pumpkin for a head. Jack is not known for his intelligence, which depends on the number of the seeds in his pumpkin-head at any given time.  But he does come up with random wisdom and good common sense.