Pumpkins are big business in America. There is no denying that. Between 2001 and 2024, US pumpkin production increased over 70% (Statista.com). There are over 1.5 billion pumpkins harvested every year in the United States alone, according to Pumpkins for Pigs. Pumpkins for Pigs is a national nonprofit organization whose mission is to reduce food waste one pumpkin at a time by diverting viable foodstuffs, including pumpkins, to farms, animal sanctuaries, and rescues for feed or compost.

Here is a fun fact, pumpkin seeds are a natural de-wormer for chickens!

Over the years as our love of all things pumpkin has exploded beyond PSL, I have always wondered (come early November) what is everyone doing with all those pumpkins–besides hoping a few neighborhood squirrels hop by for a bite? Hopefully not just tossing them to the curb!

Well as fate would have it, the other week I was sharing the successful season our client Prim & Pumpkin was having with their concierge pumpkin design and delivery service. My other client, Harriton House in Bryn Mawr, jumped in on the Facebook thread to welcome Jan (and everyone reading it) to donate pumpkins to their farm animals. Bingo!

So I connected with Laura Carpenter Myers, Executive Director of The Harriton Association to understand and dive deeper on this terrific idea, as well as help spread the word to the Main Line community. The Harriton House is a registered donation site, by the way, for Pumpkins for Pigs. (No pigs at the farm in case you were wondering but plenty of other animals!)

What are the parameters for acceptable pumpkin donations for the animals?

Pumpkins and squash that are undecorated, untreated (vinegar
or hot pepper is okay), and are not moldy are acceptable. We cannot use ornamental gourds.

When did this fun tradition begin?

We started with Pumpkins for Pigs in 2023.

This sounds like a ton of fun and a great, rewarding experience for kids and kids at heart! Right?

Absolutely! They won’t necessarily be able to feed pumpkins to the animals when they’re here to donate–but we will continue to share the animals eating pumpkins throughout the season on our social media platforms (Facebook and Instagram).

Who is going to enjoy the pumpkins in your menagerie at Harriton House?

Pumpkin eaters include Mow, Casper, Humphrey and Jack – all goats.  Sheep Lena, Siobhan and Susie. Our chickens are Penny, Mrs. Tinker, Brownie, Rosa, Bluey, Pearl, Honey Buffington, Sally Buffington, and Moki (the unusual looking naked neck chicken).

How can people go about donating pumpkins? How do they contact you? What is the process?

Unless they have a large number of pumpkins, they can just come to Harriton between dawn and dusk and leave them outside the barn. If they have any questions they can email us at info@harritonhouse.org.

We will start a pumpkin pile outside the barn later this week so people will be able to easily see where to drop off their pumpkin donations.

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Website: https://harritonhouse.org
Address: 500 Harriton Road, Bryn Mawr
Hours of Operation: Sun & Mon closed; Tues thru Sat 10am-4pm