Wait until Nov 1st to do your pumpkin shopping... I predict prices will go way down.

kreskin

Just kidding. I was at local Sam's this morning and could not believe they were still trying to sell what looked like maybe 12-15 lb pumpkins for almost $9 ea.

There certainly isn't a shortage around here. Last year food pumpkin had a shortage because of a crop failure from flooding. Buying pumpkins just before hallowe'en is like buying roses just before Valentine's Day. They'll ask what the market will bear. I do buy my pumpkins just after Hallowe'en if I don't grow my own. One chain supermarket used to have carts of them sitting outside the store with a sign "help yourself".

In Oregon, yes. It's the worst harvest in 20+ years.

Carol

None here, I picked 37 sugar pies...my first yr to grow them. Of course they will be baked and not carved.

Really tho, someone told me they went to a fruit farm and it cost them $3 to go thru their hay maze and to pick a pumpkin. I saw the field and its loaded.

Wonder why we have tons of them here in Washington, then ?
I got whole pumpkins for $1.49, any size ! I think Winco is 15 cents a lb. Some stores are 12 cents a lb.
Then, canned pumpkin, 30 oz. are 2/$3 at Fred Meyer.
The new "yuppie" store has them 99 cents for 15 oz. organic canned pumpkin.

Linda Lou,
What's the new "yuppie" store???

Deanna.....cracking up down here!

99 cents doesn't sound bad to me - I pay that for Libby's!

That is what I call the new Chuck's Produce and Street Market. It is a fun store. Very nice, high end foods. You should see all the produce. Some really exotic things.

Last year, I paid $24 for three decent sized carving pumpkins at a local pick-your-own pumpkin patch. This year, I have about 30+ pie pumpkins that we grew ourselves, and I bought one large jack-a-lantern type pumpkin at Walmart for $2.50. Of course, now my kids want me to buy two more to carve, because they don't want to share ...

I don't even want to know how much DH paid for 2 carving pumpkins at the PYO patch he took the kids to after a hike.

Last year there were rumors of a pumpkin shortage, but somehow the grocery stores never ran out of canned pumpkin :).

About $3 to $3.50 each for a decent sized carving pumpkin at national and regional chain grocery stores here. They can be as much as $10 each at local markets, farm markets, and the one roadside stand left in my county charges as much as $10-$12 for a larger carving type.

We couldn't get canned pumpkin here last year. The commercial growers all had farms in Illinois and the farms were flooded out. Canned pumpkin here, enough for two pies was selling for $2.98 on sale. I ended up making sweet potato pies and for the first time last year didn't 'do up' my own pumpkin. My bad.

I read that organic canned pumpkin was available at some stores. It's not like a national shortage when they're growing in patches all over the country, but it becomes one when commercial production for canning is limited to only a couple companies who only have sources on a couple farms in one state. That's why I grimace at the way we grow and distribute food in this country from central points. It's an accident waiting to happen.