Driving home from a pike fishing session I noticed a field that was previously all churned up by cropping and ready for the plough had suddenly turned orange with dumped pumpkins. Sadly I couldn't get closer because of the river but the volume is apparent.
Trailer loads of discarded pumpkins have been tipped all over the field; there must be tens of thousands of them because the field is massive. It looks a bit like a pumpkin battlefield with the crows picking over the fallen fruit. Since seeing this field we have seen several more fields in the same state as this one.
Are they rejects, were they damaged in some way or not ripe enough? Questions will have to be asked. We do know it isn't just Halloween that they are used for, the pulp goes as a bulking agent in pet food, jams, fruit pies and other industrially produced foods.
Perhaps the gloss has just worn off pumpkins.