Triple-digit October temperatures are complicating preparations for PumpkinFest, prompting Lisa Christie, director of the Kellogg Ranch, to shorten student workdays during the harvest while crews prepare more than 30,000 pumpkins for the festival. Ethan Orr, dean of the Don B. Huntley College of Agriculture, says students planted extra seeds in anticipation of severe weather and are finding sustainable uses for pumpkins that don’t make the cut: leftover pumpkins and seeds from the festival’s jack-o-lantern carving activities will also be repurposed as animal feed and regenerative fertilizer.

This story was originally published and broadcasted by NBC Los Angeles on October 5, 2026.