Have you seen those videos on social media showing animals (both in zoos and in the wild) wolfing down pumpkins?

Living on a farm, I can’t help but chuckle. The great pumpkins-are-edible discovery is akin to children realizing milk doesn’t “come from” grocery stores, but moo cows. Pumpkins, it turns out, don’t just magically transform into pies, over-salted packages of seeds, and Starbucks coffee flavorings.

Livestock and wildlife figured this out long ago: Pumpkins – raw pumpkins – are delicious!

Each fall, squirrels briefly pause from tormenting my dad with their incessant inhalation of backyard birdseed. Instead, they gorge on pumpkins.

Years ago, Mom wrote this children’s poem about pumpkins:

Did You Ever Bump A Pumpkin?

Did you ever bump a pumpkin
in the dark?
A witch once left one
in the park.

And, crossing through early
– the sun just set –
I tumbled right into
the one I met.

A sad, fat pumpkin
without a face,
and nothing to shine
in the candle’s place.

So I got very serious
and very strong,
for I had decided to
bring it along.

And now on the doorstep,
though Halloween’s past,
my late jack o’ lantern
can smile at last.

Mom’s poems make me smile, too. As does this jaunty couple, which graces the stone fence in my parents’ backyard.

Happy Halloween to all!

“Did You Ever Bump A Pumpkin?” © 1975 Joan Vayo. All rights reserved.

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