Don’t throw out your pumpkins after Halloween, many local farmers would take in your old pumpkins and serve them up to their animals. You’ll find Sarah Armstrong and her family doing just that. 

“All of our animals absolutely love the pumpkins, between the cows, the chickens, the pigs, and even our cats and dogs really enjoy them. Whether they're fresh and you haven’t even carved into them at all or you’ve carved into them and they are a little rotten. It doesn’t matter”   

Armstrong notes, not all pumpkin donations will be accepted. 

“Anything that has been washed with bleach, I know that helps keep them longer on your step, but that isn’t good for the animals. Also, anything that has been painted or severely covered in   candlewax” 

If community members deliver mass amounts of pumpkins, the Armstrong’s keep them over an extended period of time and ration them to their animals. 

“Between the freeze and the thaw, any abundance that we get, we store them in our barn and we feed them to our animals a little bit at a time instead of giving it all at once. Too much pumpkin can be toxic to them. “ 

Post-Halloween, if you have any leftover pumpkins, you can email Sarah Armstrong at sara.armstrong@outlook.ca