Do You Love Funky Pumpkins?

In praise of the warty, lumpy, lopsided pumpkins that steal the whole patch

There are two kinds of people at the pumpkin patch. There are the smooth pumpkin people, who want a flawless, round, uniform orange globe. And then there are my people, the funky pumpkin people, who make a beeline for the warty, lumpy, lopsided ones with twisty stems and colors that cannot pick a lane. If you love funky pumpkins, this one is for you.

What Makes a Pumpkin Funky

A funky pumpkin breaks all the rules. It might be covered in bumps and warts. It might be green and gold and orange all at once. Its stem might curl and twist like it is dancing. It might lean to one side, or have a shape no one can quite name. It might be a gourd pretending to be a pumpkin, and honestly, good for it.

These are the pumpkins that look like they have lived a little. They have character. You could pick them out of a lineup, which is more than you can say for the smooth ones.

Why the Funky Ones Are the Best

Here is my completely biased opinion. The funky pumpkins are the best pumpkins, and it is not close. A smooth pumpkin is fine. It is pleasant. It does its job. But a funky pumpkin has a story. It has a presence. It makes you stop and look, and sometimes laugh, and sometimes say, well look at you.

Perfection is forgettable. Personality is not. The pumpkin you remember from this year will not be the flawless one. It will be the gloriously weird one that caught your eye from across the patch.

The Bumpy Pumpkin Connection

If you have read The Bumpy Pumpkin, you already know where this is going. That whole book came from a single funky pumpkin I met years ago, covered in orange and green and yellow bumps, with a stem that twisted like it was mid dance. While everyone else reached for the pretty ones, I thought it was the coolest pumpkin I had ever seen.

That is the heart of the book, and it is the heart of this little love letter to funky pumpkins. The one that looks different is not the reject of the patch. It is the treasure, if you have eyes to see it.

What Funky Pumpkins Teach Kids

Funky pumpkins are secretly wonderful teachers. When a child chooses the lumpy, lopsided one on purpose, they are practicing something important. They are learning to value personality over polish, character over conformity, interesting over perfect.

And here is the quiet magic. A child who learns to love the funky pumpkin is a child learning to love the funky parts of themselves. The bumps, the quirks, the things that make them not quite like everyone else. The patch is just practice for the mirror.

The Patch Is Full of Them

If you have not been pumpkin shopping lately, you might be surprised by the variety waiting out there. The lumpy, warty ones covered in bumps. The pale blue and ghostly white ones. The knobby heirloom gourds in every shade of gold and green. The tall skinny ones and the squat flat ones. Each one looks like it grew up with a completely different personality.

Walking a patch with fresh eyes is a small joy. Instead of hunting for the one flawless pumpkin, you start collecting characters. That blue one over there looks wise. This warty one looks like trouble. The whole trip becomes a celebration of difference rather than a search for perfection.

A Funky Pumpkin Challenge

So here is my invitation to you this fall. Go find the funkiest pumpkin you can. Not the prettiest. The funkiest. The one with the most warts, the strangest shape, the most ridiculous stem. Bring it home and give it a place of honor.

Let your kids pick their own funky pumpkins too, the weirder the better. Talk about what makes each one special. You will be amazed how naturally the conversation turns from pumpkins to people, from bumps on a gourd to the things that make each of us one of a kind.

The Nurse's Take on Perfect

My years in nursing taught me that there is no such thing as a standard, identical human being. No two people are alike, not in how they heal, not in what they fear, not in what makes them brave. We are all, every one of us, a little funky in our own way.

Pumpkins are the same. No two are identical, and the most beautiful ones are rarely the smoothest. So yes, I love funky pumpkins. I love them because they tell the truth about the rest of us. Different is not a flaw. Different is the good part. Happy funky pumpkin hunting, friends.