When the air gets a little brisk and the leaves are turning orange, you can almost be certain there will be pumpkins and winter squashes in abundance in North America… Here are several photos taken at the Union Square Market in New York City last week.

Pumpkins of all shapes and sizes (some with “warts” even) were on display and for sale at what seemed like incredibly reasonable prices (say 60-80 cents per pound) in the middle of Manhattan! That is 1/3 or even 1/4th the price of pumpkins and decorative gourds in Manila, and they are “locally” grown as well. Go figure, are we that unproductive or do growers just make a lot more here? But frankly, I guess 99.9% of the Philippine population doesn’t care about local pumpkin prices, period. :)

Part of a pre-school class of kids on a visit to the market with their teacher(s). Have you ever noticed that pre-school teachers have a particular way of talking almost in slow motion and highly repetitive and extremely positive? I think pre-school teachers are in a special class of humans, and I know I personally could never handle more than 15 minutes in that job without losing it. :)

The varieties and colors of mini to giant pumpkins, gourds and squashes were truly mind-boggling.

Sister pointed out the three ginormous kalabasas on the wall in the photo above…

A table with harvested odds and ends.

When it’s pumpkin season, IT IS POURING PUMPKINS!

With hardly any luggage on my way home, I was tempted to buy a couple of these pumpkins to carve back home. But I resisted the temptation. If you want to see more pumpkins, check out these previous posts on marketmanila.com:

Real Pumpkins in Manila from Oct 2006, at incredibly reasonable prices that have since changed dramatically.
Stunning Gourds from March 2007, the timing was a bit odd if you ask me…
More ornamental gourds from October 2008
A 775 pound pumpkin! Enormous! :)
More Halloween Pumpkins & Gourds

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