It's the great pumpkin, Charlie Brown

I discovered a new favorite place today. I was in search of a great pumpkin (not just the kind you can buy at the grocery store), and while driving through our neighborhood today I followed signs to "Kürbis Markt", which translates into "pumpkin market". It was an amazing sight, and it was much more than any pumpkin field I've seen in the US. It was at an actual farm, and there were some goats and chickens and pigs and other animals that I didn't recognize all living together in a fenced area behind the market and the barn. Clearly people lived there as well because I saw their laundry hanging out to dry next to some of the rows of pumpkins that were for sale. I have NEVER seen so many varieties of squash and pumpkins. I was really only interested in what they called the "Halloween" pumpkin (the traditional American jack-o-lantern type pumpkin), but if I knew anything about cooking and eating squash I would need to go shopping there again. After picking out the perfect pumpkin and a few decorative gourds, I went "inside" to pay. Imagine my surprise when no one was there to take the money. Instead, it was on the honor system with a box marked "Kasse" where you leave your money. My visit to the Kürbis Markt was one of those simple pleasures that remind me why I love living in Basel.