Americans spent about $10.14 Billion on all-things Halloween in 2021, which is a terrifying $100 per person! And unfortunately, we know a lot of that spending will create extra stress on our environment, like candy wrappers from individual candies handed out during trick or treating, costumes that will only be worn once that come with plastic or non-recyclable props, and disposable dishes and cutlery used for Halloween parties.
So what can you do to make your Halloween celebration a little more earth-friendly? Use your garden to grow pumpkins. And compost your pumpkins after the season is over.
Pumpkins are easy to grow in Illinois. Illinois actually grows more pumpkins per acre than any other state in the US (40,000 pounds, if you want to get specific. And if you want to get more specific, the next most pumpkin-y state, California, only grows 30,000 pounds per acre).
But what does that mean for you and your garden? You can grow pumpkins. Easily. And even if you haven’t grown pumpkins or decided to buy pumpkins this year instead of growing them, there is plenty you can do after Halloween to reduce the impact your pumpkins have on the Earth.
Before Halloween
- Grow Your Own Pumpkins. Fair warning, you’ll need a good bit of space to grow pumpkins large enough for jack-o-lanterns. But other types of pumpkins take up a lot less space. I’ve grown mini-pumpkins in the same amount of space as a cucumber vine. Mini-pumpkins are 4-6” wide and perfect as decor around your home.
- Or Buy Your Pumpkins Locally. Since so many pumpkins are grown in Illinois, it’s easy to support local farmers by purchasing your pumpkins through them. Visit a farmer’s market to purchase your pumpkins. Or visit a farm! Usually the farm will create an adorable experience for you and your family while you’re picking out pumpkins, and offer tons of extras like fresh apples, cute photo ops, and apple cider. It’s a fun way to enjoy one of the last nice days of fall.
After Halloween
- Do not throw your pumpkin away! Dooming your pumpkin to an eternity in a landfill is truly terrifying.
- Eat Your Pumpkin: Pumpkins are great for you – they are high in fiber, betacarotene, Vitamin A, and Vitamin C. (We could all probably use a little more of those to counteract the obscene amount of candy we promised ourselves we wouldn’t eat on Halloween.) Pumpkins are great to bake with, and it’s really not that much more work to bake a pumpkin and purée it instead of using canned pumpkin. It’s certainly healthier! To make your pumpkin into pumpkin purée, follow these (largely unattended) steps:
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Cut pumpkin in half, scoop out the seeds, and lay cut-side down on a rimmed baking sheet.
- Pop into oven for 1 hour. At the end of the hour, the skin should peel right off.
- Pop the cooked pumpkin into a blender or food processor and let it run a few minutes.
- Done! Wasn’t that easier than you thought it would be?
- Compost Your Pumpkin. If you’re not much of a baker or your pumpkin is already a jack-o-lantern, compost it. You’ll be able to add your pumpkin in the form of compost to your garden as early as next spring. If you don’t have a compost pile but know someone who does, offer your pumpkin to them. People with compost piles know that you can’t ever have too much compost! And if you don’t know anyone with a compost pile, the organization SCARCE runs an annual Pumpkin Smash (this year, it’s on November 5). You can drop off (or literally smash) your pumpkins into a truck bed and SCARCE will compost them for you.
We know we all need to do better at taking care of our world, and since you’re a gardener, your garden is an easy place to start. Leave me a comment on Facebook or Instagram if you’ve found ways to make your Halloween more green this year!
