After reading about how pumpkins and their seeds can not only benefit the flavor of the pork but will act as a de-wormer I decided that finishing the hogs on pumpkins would be an ideal experiment! Not only are we saving money on feed, but we are helping farms out by sorting out the squash that is not sellable and taking that extra ‘waste’ off their hands. The amount of food “waste” that comes from even small scale farms is impressive and creating meat/fat energy from that feels right!

My partner and I were able to go to two farms that sell at the Olympia Farmers Market and grab tons of Squash (Acorn, Delicata, Red Kuri, Pumpkins, and Butternut), carrots, greens, potatoes, and more!! It was incredible. We sorted through wooden crates of squash and grabbed ones that were starting to mold and had dents in them. Some were already pre-sorted for us and they looked un-compromised. We now have hundreds of pounds of squash and carrots to feed our pigs as we prepare for our butchery on 11/22. The pigs are extremely happy about it and their poops are healthy and golden. Although it is not squash and other veggies that are grown on our property that will facilitate hyper local terroir (which one day it may be), they still are local and organic squash and veggies grown close enough to where I feel like it is special flavor contributors and better than just feeding organic grains that were transported from who knows where and contributing to increased food insecurity and carbon emissions.

“The seeds of pumpkins and many other vine crops are believed to contain a deworming compound called cucurbitacin, which has been used to expel tapeworms and roundworms in domestic livestock species for years”.

“Pumpkin Seeds: Do They Control Worms?” DESU, Delaware State University, May 2010, cast.desu.edu/sites/cast/files/document/16/pumpkin_seeds-worms_djo.pdf.