November’s Top Tip 🍂

This November…………… Get more out of your post-Halloween pumpkin

The big night has been and a new month has begun, but you’ve still got the pumpkins to prove it wasn’t all a dream. Here’s how to get the most out of your gourds without any added festive waste…

• Pumpkin soup – cut up the flesh, get out your pans, search up a recipe to match what you have and get cooking! So warming on an autumn day – yum!
• Roast the pumpkin seeds – wash, drizzle with oil, season and roast, then add as a garnish to the top of your soup or as a savoury snack for later
• Pumpkin scones – purée any leftover pumpkin flesh and add to make pumpkin spice scones, sweet or savoury, your choice 🙂
• Prevent any waste going to landfill by composting any unusable parts of your pumpkin, or putting your pumpkin out in the garden for wildlife, as a bird feeder or for animals to use. Just make sure it is safe for wildlife by cutting it up or making sure no animal could get trapped inside, as well as removing any lights, wax or rotted parts (any worse for wear areas can go in compost!) – see here for ideas https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/blog/2019/10/what-to-do-with-pumpkins/ 🎃
• Looking forward, try to limit your environmental impact this bonfire night. Fireworks have many environmental effects, including air and noise pollution as well as disturbing wildlife. So to limit your impact, choose watching public displays from your window or an organised event over private ones, pick up and responsibly dispose of debris and avoid bonfires, or if having a bonfire, check very carefully for any wildlife such as hedgehogs who may be using the materials, including to hibernate in. Curl up with a toffee apple or hot chocolate and ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ from the comfort of your own home 🎆

So you can now go forth, use your pumpkin to the max, have a cosy bonfire night and live your best autumn life 🍁