Make Mine "Warty" Please

They're so homely they're cute. No, I'm not talking about the Republican "young guns" I'm referring to the new breed of pumpkins available for your Halloween decorating pleasure. It used to be that picking out a pumpkin was akin to the classic children's story Goldilocks; that one is too small, that one is too big, but this one is just right, perfectly round, orange and bump free. Pumpkin growers are finding this year's particular pumpkin pickers are going for the bizarre and uniquely ugly when it comes to their choice in pumpkins, the wartier the better. Some pumpkin farmers caught on to this new trend in "pumpkin pickiness" early on and started growing pumpkin hybrids, mixing different varieties in order to come up with pumpkins that would stand out in the crowd; striped ones, bumpy ones, and the not necessarily orange ones. While there will always be a demand for the greeting card, picture perfect pumpkins with their glowing, radiant, just the right shade of orange skin, its rather comforting that the not so perfect, slightly odd and misshapen pumpkins are getting their chance to shine. It tends to balance out nature, if just for a brief, bewitching moment.