#SquashGoals: South West food charity rescues surplus pumpkins
FareShare South West have been visiting farms across the region this autumn - and have collected hundreds of kilos of pumpkins
FareShare South West - the region's largest charity which redistributes food - has been scooping-up the squashes that may have otherwise gone to waste.
Now the spooky season is officially over, many farms across our region inevitably are left with surplus Halloween pumpkins - many of which may have been destined back into the ground as compost - or worse, to landfill.
Yesterday (October 31), in collaboration with farm produce redistribution organisation the Avon Gleaning Network, a team of plucky volunteers headed to one of our local farms and came back with barrel-loads of them.
Now, these squashes are on their way to embrace a new lease of life - instead of decomposing back into compost, they now have the potential to feed those who can't afford to buy the food they need.
It's not been a one-day mission, though.
This Autumn, the organisation have rescued hundreds of kilos of pumpkins - redistributing some to community groups and charitable organisations that can turn them into meals for the people they support, or add them to food boxes for families.
Other pumpkins will go directly to local food producers to create meals that are ready to eat, including the likes of Bristol-based RaviOllie, who are using surplus pumpkins to make ravioli to distribute to some of FareShare South West’s charity partners.
Claire Allen, from FareShare South West, said: "As you can imagine, we've seen lots of pumpkins on doorways and windowsills - but there's plenty more pumpkins that are grown than actually are used, or bought.
"On Halloween, and in the weeks that follow, you'll find lots of fields and farms with excess pumpkins that don't have a home to go to.
"What FareShare South West does is redistribute surplus good-quality and in-date food to frontline charities or community groups across the region. That's from all the way up to Gloucester, all the way down to Cornwall.
"These pumpkins that we collected from Farrington's Farm will go to one of our food suppliers, they will turn them into meals, and then those meals will get redistributed to our charity members over the next few months.
"While we were at the farm, we were working with the Avon Gleaning Network, which is a volunteer-led organisation that goes to farms, fields, and allotments to glean whatever produce is surplus to requirements. So, this time of year you might find pumpkins, you might find potatoes. In spring, you may find carrots, in summer a glut of courgettes... and these brilliant networks will go out into the fields to make sure as little of that goes to waste."
For FareShare South West, demand for food and support has never been greater - and for a service that helps to redistribute food to hundreds of local charities, pumpkin season has been as good an opportunity as any to bring locally-produced food to the people who need it.
Claire said: "All types of food are important to us - we have about 400 charities on our books that we deliver to every week. There's even a waiting list of organisations that want to turn the food into meals that can be distributed to families who can't afford to get the food they need onto their plates.
"Pumpkins are just one type of food - as long as it's good quality, then that's what we want, and that's what we need, but we are always looking for new partners in the food industry to ensure we can keep people fed.
"However, I think, as Halloween has become more of a mainstream thing here in the UK, pumpkins have certainly gone up in popularity. This isn't going to go away any time soon - whether that's on the fields or in the farms, there are plenty more pumpkin rescue missions on the cards!"
Having a waste-not-want-not attitude is the beauty not just to FareShare South West, but the beauty for us all to spend less on food, embrace fewer food miles, and eat what's found right on our doorsteps - and pumpkins at this time of year are the perfect way to do just that.
Claire added: "For the farmers, we put in a lot of added value - because a lot of energy, time and water would have gone into growing these vegetables that may have otherwise just have been left there to rot in the ground - and they're delighted that we can put those pumpkins to really good use, and get them to people who are at risk at going hungry.
"And, of course, the beauty of pumpkins is that they are really versatile - although they can be tricky to prepare, they are easy to cook and don't take long at all - you could make a curry, blitz them into soup, stir it through pasta - they are a great vehicle for flavour!"
You can check out one of FareShare South West's pumpkin curry recipe with their charity partner, click here
To find out more about FareShare South West click here
To find out more about the Avon Gleaning Network, click here