The Pumpkin Loop: Turn Halloween pumpkins into eggs, fuel and soil · Alt Ordo Systems Guide

A jack-o'-lantern is not trash on November 1st. It is about 92% water wrapped around sugar, fiber and seeds, and every part of it is somebody's food. This Primer shows you how to sort a pumpkin by its condition, then send it down the routes that fit: seeds to the oven, flesh to the hens, soft pulp to black soldier fly larvae or a digester, and everything else into the soil with November's leaves. The rules are short and firm: nothing painted, sprayed or mouldy goes to an animal, and no carved pumpkin goes to dinner.

This guide helps you sort any Halloween pumpkin in ten seconds, then route it safely to your plate, your hens, a black soldier fly bin, a biogas digester or the soil, and grow a pumpkin next year that survives a Southern summer.

What's inside. 12 pages in 7 chapters (At a glance, Where it works, How it works, Size it, Set it up and run it, Rules and permits, How it connects), then the sources and a notes page. 6 numbered figures drawn for this guide. You also get a worked example with a fill-in worksheet, 8 numbered steps, a year-round calendar, and a troubleshooting table.

Sourced and fact-checked. Facts and figures are cited to the 30 sources listed at the back, and the whole guide was fact-checked before release. General guidance, not engineering advice: your county and a qualified pro have the last word on your site.

Pairs with other Alt Ordo Systems Guides: Backyard chickens; Black Soldier Fly Homestead Guide; Backyard Biogas Digester; Composting; DIY Worm Tower Plans. For your county's permits and rules, see our county and state guides.

Free PDF download. Check out at $0 and the download link arrives by email. Letter-size pages, made to read on screen or print at home.