If you’re one of those families that like to have Christmas decorations up in time for the Thanksgiving gathering, you might have already tossed the pumpkins, gourds, decorative corn and corn shocks that decorated your home for fall and Halloween into the trash.

Or maybe you’re waiting until after Turkey Day to toss your natural fall décor into the garbage to make room for Christmas.

Or maybe you’ve found secondary uses for the pumpkins, gourds, decorative corn and corn shocks other than adding them to the estimated 1.3 billion pounds of pumpkins that end up in landfills every year.

For those wanting to join that last group, here are some ideas on how to reuse your natural fall decorations that haven’t been painted or treated with preservatives or other chemicals.

All those materials, including carved jack-o-lanterns, can go right into the compost.

Choosing that route for disposal carries the added benefit of producing a whole garden of new plants from the seeds next summer. If you don’t want the new growth next year, remove the seeds before composting. You can then scatter the seeds, either fresh or dried, outdoors for wildlife.

The entire pumpkin or gourd can be converted to food for wildlife by leaving it where the critters will find it, smashing it on a log or rock where the critters will find it or cutting it in half and hanging it as a feeder in a tree with some wire, sticks, dowels or rope. With that third option, after the seeds have been plucked out by the birds, you can refill it with bird feed.

Many local farmers, wildlife rehabilitators, zoos, nature centers and backyard wildlife enthusiasts will be happy to have your fall discards for their livestock, wild charges and wildlife. Call ahead and ask first rather than just dropping it off. (In my neighborhood, neighbors don’t even need to ask. I put out a call on our neighborhood Facebook group every year.)

Many community gardens also will be happy to add your former decorations to their compost piles.