When Halloween’s over and done, don’t toss Jack in the trash — the Cowichan Lake Community Garden has a much better use for him.
The group is asking community members to donate their Jack-o-lantern’s to the garden’s compost after Oct. 31 and will have two drop-off locations available in Lake Cowichan.
“We’re asking them to bring their Jack-o-lanterns, their pumpkin bits and any seeds they’re not going to use for their own eating, bring them to the Play and Learn classroom, there’s going to be a blue bin outside the classroom,” said garden member Tracey Johnson, referring to the CVRD preschool program offered on the second floor of the Cowichan Lake Sports Arena.
“If they would rather just drive it out to the community garden, the new site there at Ravine Park, then there will be a large collection bin for pumpkins there as well.”
The garden will be accepting these donations from Nov. 1 until mid-November.
Johnson said their hope is to make the process as easy as possible to encourage participation.
At this time, they are asking only for pumpkins/Jack-o-lanterns, and Johnson wanted to remind everyone to make sure to remove candles and wax from their pumpkins before dropping them at either location.
They are not accepting painted pumpkins.
The initiative is part of the garden’s ongoing efforts to help Lake Cowichan reduce its overall waste to the landfill.
“The community garden hopes to be a leader in sustainable development in our community so we want to use composting as a tool in promoting sustainability,” said Johnson of the program.
“It feels good to do something positive with our waste, to know we’ve put it in the right place and it’s going to make food for the microorganisms and the worms and that sort of thing, and in turn they’re going to give us beautiful soil. So it’s a full cycle and it’s also easy to do.”
