The Great Pumpkin Panic

Have you heard the news? If you haven't already hooked up with a source for Libby's canned pumpkin, you may be out of luck for that holiday pie.

The company hasn't been able to get its equipment into the fields to harvest pumpkins because of heavy rains and soggy ground. What's out there is rotting on the vine. So what they've already packed this year is all there will be until the 2010 crop. That familiar tan can is already getting scarce.

Now, at our house there are only three absolute must-haves for Thanksgiving: turkey, stuffing, and pumpkin pie. And the only acceptable pumpkin for said pie is Libby's. So when I read Friday night about impending shortages, I knew I had to act fast.

I hit Walmart Saturday morning before dawn and made straight for the precious pumpkin. I scooped up four single cans: two for Thanksgiving, one for Christmas, and one for next fall, just in case. There was plenty left for everybody else, and I began to wonder if this wasn't a clever ploy by Libby's marketing department. I set off to round up the rest of the stuff for the big feast, feeling relieved but silly.

By the time I got back to the baking isle, though, there was only one big can of pumpkin left. I tossed a box of Rice Chex over my stash and made for the checkout.

A better woman probably would have put a can or two back on the shelf. On the other hand, a more cynical woman would have bought it all and sold it on eBay.