APPLE HILL, Ontario – With Halloween now over, many of us still have pumpkins taking up precious front porch real estate.
Instead of tossing them to the curb or leaving them to rot, why not offer them up to your local animal sanctuary? Little-known fact: pumpkins are a great source of nutrition for pigs, goats, and birds.
Natalie Rowe, matriarch of Bee Meadow Farm, says that she began collecting pumpkins for her animals last year.
“I put up a notice on Facebook, and people started bringing them to us at the farm,” said Rowe. “The pigs just went crazy for them.”
The pinnacle of recycling, there are just a few things to bear in mind when donating your pumpkins to an animal haven.
“We take them either carved or full, but preferably not moldy,” said Rowe. “Painted pumpkins are fine, as long as we can wash off the paint.”
Rowe says that incorporating pumpkins into the animals’ diet has had some comical results.
“The pigs will run from one end of the paddock to the other with a carved pumpkin as their prize,” said Rowe.
For more information about donating your pumpkins, please visit Bee Meadow Farm’s Facebook page.
