Pumpkins!

This past weekend at the Charlottesville City Market, the first pumpkins of the season appeared! It was a thoroughly fall Saturday, chilly enough that we dug out our sweaters. Rain drizzled throughout the morning, which made for some beautiful photos of the new pumpkins and made us inspired to create new miniature pumpkins as well.

The booth next to ours had a lovely selection of pie pumpkins, sweet potatoes, turnips, and even honey in a gorgeous array of colors.
Around the corner (and right near the much-needed coffee!), the farmers had big pumpkins, and these unusual ones with the coloring of butternut squashes, and the squat shape of turbin squash. It's neat how the stems on the regular pumpkins are thick and a deep dark green, while the paler pumpkins have much more delicate and leafy green stems. It would be fun to play with color mixing to create these!

In the same family, we spied these spooky gray-green squashes. They look almost like ghosts of regular pumpkins and might make a fun charm for foodies for Halloween (Ghosts of food past? When produce returns to haunt you?)

We love how varied and textured pumpkins can be- even the really classic ones. The stems on these pumpkins are all twisted and gnarled and curved in every direction- the perfect illustration of how natural foods are inherently imperfect! We hope these pumpkins inspire you to create your own tiny pumpkin and squash charms- complete with knobbly stems, uneven ridges, and all shades of green and orange.