A creative member of the Craighead County Master Gardeners recently hosted a recycling effort in Sage Meadows. Ashley remembered a former Master Gardener collecting pumpkins, gourds, straw, corn stalks, and mums that would otherwise be discarded and likely go to the landfill.
She knew similar waste from her neighborhood could be repurposed to feed rescue animals on a local farm. Her friends, the Northcutt family, have a farm with rescued animals in Brookland with two sheep, a mini Highland cow, a dwarf Nigerian goat, and 65 chickens.
The Northcutts were very interested in collecting the materials and even volunteered to bring along the goat to meet everyone! On the Sunday after Thanksgiving, Ashley reminded everyone to start dropping off pumpkins at the parking lot. At 4:30 pm, she arrived to find a large pile of pumpkins. Then the Northcutts arrived with Martha, their goat, in tow. Ashley sent out a live video on Facebook with Martha and the pumpkins to show the neighbors. Soon cars and golf carts full of mums and pumpkins started pouring in.
The children especially loved petting Martha the goat and letting her snack on their pumpkins. Soon the group had completely filled with the trailer donations.
Although the costs were zero, the neighborhood netted a fun gathering while helping animals in need.