Great Pumpkin Rescue a Huge Success

Thursday, 5 November 2020 16:37

Hundreds of pumpkins, gourds and squash were saved from the landfill this year thanks to Great Pumpkin Rescues all over Oxford County this year.

OXFORD COUNTY - The Great Pumpkin Rescue was a huge success this year in Oxford County.

This year they had rescues in Blandford-Blenheim, Woodstock, Sweaburg and Beachville, Thamesford and Burgessville.

One of the organizers Bryan Smith says hundreds of pumpkins, gourds and squash did not end up in the landfill this year.

"So anything that is organic, anything that is food like, brush or waste that goes into a dump, produces methane gas. Methane gas is one of those things making climate change worse. It also fills dumps quickly, it's heavy, it costs a lot of money to cart it around, it burns lot's of fuel in the process."

Smith says this also has social benefits.

"We are rescuing the pumpkins, so that those that are uncut, unblemished and untainted can be processed as food. I have already had one delivery and I other people coming for them. At College Ave school, the kids that are learning to be chefs in the food training course there are processing a bunch of pumpkins and learning about that as part of the skills they are doing. They're also going to soup kitchens and community meals and that sort of stuff a well."

All of the pumpkins, squash and gourds that were rescued were used for food for farm animals and for people.

If you have a pumpkin at your house and don't know what to do with it, consider trying this family recipe from Bryan Smith:

Part A: Prepare pumpkin

Cut pumpkin in half.

Remove seeds.

Roast at 350 F until soft to a knife.

Part B: Filling or Custard * Indicates a variant below

2 cups of cooked pumpkin, blended for smoothness if desired.

2 large eggs

¾ cup local honey or maple syrup

1 tsp ginger powder

1 tsp cinnamon*