Look What New York State Wants You to do with Your Pumpkin

On Friday in the Hudson Valley, there are going to be a lot of pumpkins with no place to go. Of course, if your pumpkin got smashed by an unhappy trick-or-treater or stolen by wildlife you aren't necessarily going to care about the information I am about to share.

Let me start by saying that if you painted your pumpkin or treated it with some kind of chemical to keep the wildlife off of it you are not going to get to do with your pumpkin what I plan to do with mine. Unfortunately Composting a pumpkin requires that the pumpkin not have any treatment.

Best Thing to Do with Your Pumpkin After Halloween

Hopefully, when you carved your pumpkin you saved the seeds. They are fun to have for the following year to grow in your garden. They also are delicious to roast as a snack. I always save a few to grow and as for the snack, I leave my pumpkin guts and carvings out in a pile for the squirrels and deer to eat.

After Halloween, I take the candles out and clean out the melted wax, and then I smash my pumpkins so that the critters can enjoy a post-Halloween treat. Turns out the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is encouraging all of us to compost our pumpkins too.

It is really easy to do just follow the steps in the NYS DEC post below. Composting is a great way to dispose of your Halloween Jack-O-Lantern. Even farm markets like Wallkill View Farm Market in New Paltz often take their unbought pumpkins and place them back out in the field for the wildlife to eat and hopefully add to next year's pumpkin patch.

SEE Also: Ultimate Pumpkin Smash with the 4-H in Sullivan County

If you don't want to compost your pumpkin you can also attend a pumpkin-smashing event near you. This can be grand fun for the whole family. Pumpkin Smashes are being held in Highland Falls, Wallkill, Woodbury, and Garrison New York. Sullivan County is hosting one as well in Liberty.

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Another Fun Pumpkin Project If You Have Ones You Didn't Carve Yet