Oglethorpe County residents need not look far to find a sustainable solution for their leftover pumpkins. They can be donated to farms in the county to feed animals and reduce waste.
Beth Wills has a hobby farm at her home outside of Winterville, where she and her family house goats, pigs, chickens and dogs.
When Wills and her family started asking for pumpkin donations to be dropped off at their light blue wooden stand last year, they unexpectedly received what she estimated to be over 200 pumpkins.
“There’s a lot of people that they just set their pumpkins out on the side of the road for the trash people to collect,” Wills said. “We were like, ‘We should make a stand, and then they could just drop them off,’ and people responded really well.”
Wills first feeds her animals the pumpkins that have already been carved because they don’t last as long, but whole pumpkins are saved and rationed as long as possible. Wills said the animals eat nearly the entire pumpkin; the only part they leave behind is the stem.
Sweet Olive Farm Animal Rescue, a nonprofit in Winterville that serves as a sanctuary for farm and exotic animals, also collects pumpkin and other food donations from the public.
Director Kat Howkins said they accept pumpkin donations year round, but see an uptick in the fall.
“We’ve gotten so many pumpkins,” Howkins said. “I can go through a pickup truck bed full of pumpkins in no time.”
Pumpkins can be given to animals in different ways.
At Sweet Olive Farm, Howkins described a “dramatic way to feed the animals,” where pumpkins are thrown and broken open for the animals.
At Wills’ mini farm, pumpkins are cut open for the goats and dogs, but left whole for the pigs and chickens, which will eat through the tough outer layer.
Wills only accepts donations that are free of decorations, such as toothpicks, candles and metal objects so as not to harm the animals. Howkins said as long as pumpkins aren’t rotten, they will be accepted at Sweet Olive Farm.
While donated pumpkins provide an easy food source, they serve as more than just free feed.
Wills said pumpkins and their seeds offer a breadth of nutritional benefits for farm animals, acting as a natural dewormer and providing protein, fiber and nutrients that livestock often doesn’t get in the winter.
“These pumpkins allow us to give our animals nutritious food that doesn’t cost us anything,” Howkins said. “That’s always good when you’re running a nonprofit.”
Howkins also noted another aspect to donating pumpkins: the amplification of community.
With part of Sweet Olive Farm’s mission being to build community, Howkins said she has found that taking pumpkin donations from the public has helped them meet people and work toward that goal.
“With people being able to share food … to be able to come out and see who they’re helping, and how this animal is going to love this pumpkin that also brought these people joy,” Howkins said. “It’s a win-win situation.”