{"id":18404,"date":"2021-10-29T15:35:44","date_gmt":"2021-10-29T19:35:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transy.edu\/1780\/?p=18404"},"modified":"2021-10-31T15:51:19","modified_gmt":"2021-10-31T19:51:19","slug":"transylvania-pumpkinmania-jack-o-lanterns-become-halloween-treat-for-local-livestock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transy.edu\/1780\/2021\/10\/transylvania-pumpkinmania-jack-o-lanterns-become-halloween-treat-for-local-livestock\/","title":{"rendered":"Transylvania PumpkinMania jack-o’-lanterns become Halloween treat for local livestock"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Costumed children aren’t the only ones getting treats this Halloween season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some ducks, chickens and other farm animals are feasting on around 500 jack-o\u2019-lanterns that glowed on the steps of Transylvania University’s Old Morrison earlier this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Friday, Kenya Abraham and her children loaded up a trailer with the gourds from PumpkinMania<\/a> presented by White, Greer and Maggard Orthodontics. The pickup was arranged by Black Soil<\/a>, a Lexington-based group connecting Black Kentucky farmers with their agricultural heritage and expanding markets for their products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Abraham’s local Slak Market Farm<\/a> has poultry, a micro dairy producing raw milk, and sheep and goats for halal meat. (The operation is named after her children Sabeal, Laila, Aiya and Kathem.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The animals seem to enjoy pumpkins, which are a natural dewormer, Abraham said. Plus, there’s the fact they’re getting to eat the remains of such a well-known Halloween display. “I think it’s pretty cool,” she said. The gourds also will help stretch the farm’s feed budget (they\u2019re mostly going to the poultry).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier in the process, Black Soil worked with Cleav\u2019s Family Market in Bonnieville to grow the pumpkins \u2014 so you might say the organization was involved from vine to dine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“I was blown away to have this opportunity to help people get connected,” said Ashley Smith, Black Soil’s co-founder and COO. “We wanted to make sure we reduced waste and helped other Kentucky farmers to be able to sustain their farms.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smith also noted all the attention her group got from helping facilitate PumpkinMania, which generated national media coverage like this tweet from ABC News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“It was just a great way to show people exactly what we do with Black Soil,” Smith said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The event, which included a community pumpkin carving this past Sunday, also was featured on Good Morning America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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