Country Pumpkins

Meet Oliver the Watusi, a social-media star steer who lives at the Triangle B Ranch in Liberty, Texas.

He and his friends at the ranch – cows, horses, sheep, pigs, chickens, guinea fowl, and peacocks – love to eat pumpkins as a treat.

“And pumpkin is a natural dewormer and helps with digestion,” says their human friend Michelle Lumpkin-Browning.

Since 2020, Canh Lien Nguyen of Woodland Heights has allowed people to drop pumpkins off at her property, 412 Quinn at Rural St., behind Travis Elementary School, during the month of November, for the Triangle B. Michelle and her husband, former bull-riding world champion, Vincent Browning, pick them up. Last year, they had to make three trips with their truck and collected over 1,000 pumpkins for Oliver and his friends.

Pumpkins for Pigs, a nationwide organization, keeps a directory of farms and animal sanctuaries that welcome pumpkin donations for their animals. Seven locations, including Triangle B, are within an hour’s drive of Houston, with some possibly able to arrange pick-up: Wild Rose Farm in Cat Spring, O’Rourke Farms in Waller, Klovenski Farms in Plantersville, The Least of These Animal Sanctuary in Willis, SkyJax Farm in Cleveland, and Gold and Dirt Farms in Crosby. Contact information for each can be found on the Pumpkins for Pigs’ searchable database.

Another animal sanctuary that would love to get pumpkins for its charges is the 501c3 nonprofit farm animal rescue, K9 Airlift Rescue Barn, in Huffman at 1305 Smith Rd. “We have horses, three cows, goats, sheep, donkeys, pigs, a miniature mule, geese, chickens, rabbits, and a hinny (all rescues) that would love to munch down on fresh pumpkin,” says Lynne Jennings, director. 

Pumpkins donated for animals to eat need to be uncarved, unpainted, and untreated with any chemicals such as bleach. Pumpkins, including quickly expiring jack-o-lanterns can also be donated for composting.

The City of Houston will be accepting whole pumpkins, jack-o-lanterns (with decorations removed), seeds, and pulp from November 1 to December 6 at the City of Houston Reuse Warehouse at 9003 N. Main St. (Tuesday – Friday, 9 am-4 pm and every 2nd and 4th Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.) and at Westpark Recycling Center at 5900 Westpark (Monday – Saturday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.). The compost from the pumpkins will be used in city parks.

Residents of West University can leave their whole and undecorated pumpkins with yard waste November 1 – December 1. For more information, call Public Works at 713-662-5839 or email [email protected].

Residents of Bellaire can deposit their “bare pumpkins” (no decorations, sealants, paint, or other materials) in a collection bin that will be open November 3 – December 4 at 4401 Edith St. near Lafayette Park.

The Woodlands Township Environmental Department will be holding its third annual Pumpkin Smash on Saturday, November 2 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Sterling Ridge Park and Ride at 8001 McBeth Way in The Woodlands. Before your pumpkins are composted, you can fling them in a catapult, smash them with a baseball bat, or heave them off a 60-foot drop to watch them explode on impact.