Donating Pumpkins Could Help Local Farmers With Animal Food Costs During Winter Months
MONROE, N.C. — Halloween is over and Thanksgiving is weeks away. What to do with those pumpkins? Donate.
Throwing pumpkins to the trash is bad for the environment. However, it can make for a great snack.
Nancy Gomez’s pet pig, aptly named Porky, is getting his first taste of Fall.
Pumpkin Donations for Pigs
Porky is the newest addition to Gomez’s family that already includes: seven goats, “about” 50 ducks, and 10-15 chickens.
“These are my babies,” Gomez explains of her animals.
Feeding all of Gomez’s “babies” can be costly.
“I just hit up tractor supply today for $200,” said Gomez.
To offset the costs, Gomez and many other farm animal owners, rely on the donations of pumpkins around the holidays for all of their animals.
Gomez uses quickly growing organization Pumpkins for Pigs to get her information out to the public for donations..
“This week we have crested well over 400 across the US, in 38 states,” said Founder of Pumpkins for Pigs, Jennifer Seifert
Seifert’s website connects pumpkin donors to those who could use the extra feed. Especially in the winter months.
“We had one farmer who said it saved him over $200,” said Seifert of the service.
Seifert estimates her organization has redirected 540 tons of used pumpkins from landfills to animals fill of delicious treats.
