GEORGETOWN — Folks hoping to see their drying and decaying Christmas trees put to good use can spend a day seeing them being eaten by local farm animals during Great Rock Farm’s annual Goats to Go event on Jan. 11.
“We’ve been doing this for the last seven Januaries, a fundraiser with our goats to let people come and drop off Christmas trees and then enjoy a little bit of time with the goats,” farm co-owner Michelle Aulson said.
Goats will not be the only ones enjoying holiday leftovers.
“We also have llamas, sheep and chickens and stuff that we feed some of the trees to as well, but our goats are definitely the biggest draw,” Aulson said.
Aulson said the family owned farm, located at 201 Pond St., selects one or two charities each year to benefit from suggested donations of $20 per tree.
In previous years, Auslon would work with animal nonprofits like MSPCA and Sweet Paws Rescue, but pivoted to Emmaus Inc. the last two years.
“Just because I simply thought I’ve given a lot to some other animal charities throughout the year and there’s a lot of people that need homes. We decided there’s a lot of people that need to come in from the cold right now and so I’m doing the Emmaus again this year,” Aulson said.
Emmaus Inc. is a nonprofit organization that provides emergency shelter and develops affordable housing in the Lower Merrimack Valley to help families and individuals facing homelessness rebuild their lives, according to its website.
“They come and set up a table and actually have some volunteers sign up or people interested in volunteering. Hopefully, they get some good donations,” Aulson said.
In years past the goat-centric event has netted as much as $2,800 in donations.
This year’s munch-fest is set to go from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., with folks asked to set up drop off times by visiting: goatstogo.farm
“We just have times up so we know how many people to expect in terms of flow of traffic and parking. Some people drop off and some people stay and listen to the music we have,” Aulson said.
Music comes courtesy of Kingston, New Hampshire, musician Lee Biddle.
“This year we also going to do a little warming fire pit, like a little tiny one for people if it’s cold out,” Aulson said.
One thing she said she always appreciates is seeing familiar faces.
“Some people have been doing it for seven years they’ve been coming. So we have a lot of repeat people that come every year,” Aulson said.
Another treat she said folks always get a kick out of is seeing the goats who are getting to have their very first Christmas tree.
“Each year we have new groups of goats, so some of them have never had a Christmas tree before. So to make it special, we don’t feed any Christmas trees until that day,” Aulson said.
On Friday, Aulson said 50 trees have been promised so far, half of the farm’s typical limit.
“I’ll probably let more come because we’ve extended the hours this year,” Aulson said.
Emmaus Inc. did not respond in time for this report.
Matt Petry covers Amesbury and Salisbury for The Daily News of Newburyport. Email him at: mpetry@northofboston.com.