MIDLAND, Texas — Pumpkins are used for many things: pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin pies, pumpkin cookies -- they're a versatile food for cooking.
But it's not just us people that enjoy eating pumpkins, as the animals of Midland love to chow down on some gourds.
That's why people like Cindy Cross are asking for people to donate their pumpkins that they aren't using so that they can be put to better use: to be gobbled up by farm animals.
Not only are pumpkins a yummy treat for the goats, chickens and donkeys down at Cross' goat farm, they're packed with nutrients.
“We noticed several years ago that our animals really loved pumpkins," Cross said. "So after doing some research, we found that they are really healthy for animals, especially farm animals.”
Cross and her husband have been running their farm for about seven years. They raise Nigerian dwarf goats, but they've also got ducks, chickens, turkeys and donkeys walking around.
While these animals love to munch on some pumpkins, they've had to come whole, not diced or carved.
"They can stay good for a long time, especially in the cooler weathers, so we only give several a day to the animals so they can stay longer," Cross said. "Also, people have old, carved pumpkins and they can get moldy and slimy and we don’t want to feed them anything that has mold in it.”
It's not just pumpkins that the animals will chow down on.
Corn, hay, grass clippings, tortillas... all of it and more are on the menu.
But just because they're animals, it doesn't mean they'll eat anything that gets put on their plates.
“Because if they like pumpkins, they like squash, they like cucumbers," Cross said. "So they eat a lot of snacks, but they don’t eat anything like people say. They will not eat a tin can, that is a myth, it is not true."
Pumpkins are a favorite of everyone on the farm… which is why Cross made her post on Nextdoor asking for people to donate their pumpkins.
Last year was the first time she asked the public for donations and she got around one hundred pumpkins.
But it’s not about how many she can get… it’s about making sure these pumpkins don’t go to waste after the fall season.
“I’m hoping not so much to get a bunch, necessarily, but to give people another option to recycle their pumpkins," Cross said. "They put a lot of money into the pumpkins, so some people are happy to share their pumpkins with our farm and our animals.”
If you want to donate a pumpkin to Cross, you can reach out to her on Facebook or Nextdoor.