Are your porch pumpkins sagging? Are your jack-o-lanterns listing starboard? Have your gourds gone to seed? They still have life in them yet. Bring them to Filbert Street Garden to feed their goats.
Filbert Street Garden put out a call on Facebook asking people to drop off their used pumpkins at the front entrance of their garden, as long as they do not have too much ink or writing on them. The community garden will use them for compost and feeding their Nigerian Dwarf goats and shetland sheep.
The community garden is a nonprofit organization founded in 2010 as part of the City of Baltimore’s Adopt-a-Lot Program. Located in South Baltimore’s Curtis Bay, they have 20 available garden plots every spring. They also provide education about gardening, animal husbandry, and local wildlife.
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Speaking of wildlife, the garden supports two local wildlife projects apart from the goats that will feast on the past-their-prime pumpkins. Filbert Street Garden is home to 200-300 native bats and is host to the largest community garden beeyard in the State of Maryland.
Goats and sheep are allowed on the new furniture at Filbert Street Garden. Photo via Filbert Street Garden’s Facebook page.
“Our honeybees pollinate a 3-mile radius around our garden covering most of Curtis Bay, Brooklyn, and Brooklyn Park,” notes their website. “In addition, we rehome swarms and established honeybee hives throughout Baltimore.”
Given that all 10 species of bats in Maryland are considered “Species of Greatest Conservation Need,” Filbert Street provides bat houses for hundreds of urban bats.
“Our state’s bats can be subdivided into tree bats and cave bats,” according to the site. “In general, tree bats either migrate or spend the winter in tree cavities, under bark, or even under leaf litter. Cave bats tend to hibernate in caves or tunnels. Bats are extremely important in reducing pest insects to include mosquitoes that spread the Zika and West Nile viruses.”
The garden has Nigerian Dwarf goats and shetland sheep that graze in the garden. The sheep are sheared every spring, and their coats are spun into yarn. Sheep and goats are distant cousins, and goats are one of the earliest domesticated animals, and the first to be milked by humans. The garden gets its brush cleared by the goats and sheep, and the animals get delicious brush and grass. No lawnmowers needed.
Clear out those porch pumpkins once they have clearly seen better days and drop them off at Filbert Street Garden to add some variety to the sheep and goat diets in Curtis Baaaaaaaaa-y.
Filbert Street Garden is located at 1321 Filbert St., Baltimore, MD.
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