Don't throw away that pumpkin!

By: Natasha Young

Happy Halloween from Mother Nature's Dirt!

With Halloween festivities passing by, you might be ready to throw your pumpkin in the trash but hold that thought! Here are seven things to do with your pumpkins after Halloween.

A family of carved pumpkins that Javon Hough, one of our social media managers, helped create. Third from left is Hyugh's personal favorite.

The first thing you can do is make a pumpkin bird feeder. You can take the top off and add birdseed into the middle with some twine to tie it on a branch.

You can feed fresh pumpkins to chickens if you have them, but be careful to plan this within a day or two after carving your pumpkin. It’s also worth noting that you should remove the pumpkin remains before bedtime so the pumpkin doesn’t attract anything unsavory for your chickens

Another thing you can do is donate your pumpkin to a farm for pigs to eat. Georgia has several farms that take carved and uncarved pumpkins like Little Paws Farm and Misfit Acres. You can find a full list at Pumpkinsforpigs.org.

Composting your pumpkin is another efficient way to use up all of your pumpkin after Halloween. Since pumpkin is a thick vegetable, you will need to break it up or chop it up before you're able to properly compost your pumpkins.

If you have a backyard, you can also bury your pumpkin just make sure to remove the seeds or you might have a pumpkin patch yourself come next fall! Unless, of course, you would like a pumpkin patch.

Pumpkins make great decoration all through fall. Photo credit: Phillip Oliver.

For uncarved pumpkins, you can do anything that you can do with carved pumpkins and more.

If you’re ready for Christmas right after Halloween, you can make your uncarved pumpkins into a snowman. Gather two or three pumpkins in varying sizes and attach them with hot glue. Then, you can paint and create your own fun pumpkin snowman. Just remember, use paint that can be removed or else you can’t donate or compost your pumpkins later.

Baking or cooking with your edible pumpkins is a great way to enjoy your pumpkin throughout the Hallowthanksmas season. Here is a recipe for pumpkin puree which is usually the base for pumpkin recipes.

All of these ideas are great options for reducing landfill waste from pumpkins, but please do not just throw your pumpkins out into the woods since they will rot and could make animals sick.

If you have any other suggestions, drop them in the comments for others to enjoy.