Get your dried-out Christmas tree recycled by goats and help 4-H kids

For a suggested donation of $15-$20, you can get your tree recycled by a goat.

You’ll also be supporting the Independence Chapter of 4-H based in Sebastopol.

You can now sign up for the service, to be conducted on several dates from Dec. 27- Jan. 8, at https://www.independence4h.com/goat-tree-recycling.

Goat tree recycling provides a tasty snack for the goats (they chomp down to the tree trunks). 4-H Club members will pick up your dried-out spruces and firs if you live in Sebastopol, Santa Rosa, Cotati or Rohnert Park (unflocked and all decorations removed) and take them to small goat farms in west county.

Milk-producing goats, including Nigerian Dwarfs, Nubians and Saanen breeds, will eat the nutritious tree branches. The trunks will be woodchipped afterward.

The fundraiser, in its second year, will help pay the club’s operating expenses. It will also help pay for baking projects that are often submitted for prizes in county fairs, and for equipment such as bows and arrows for archery.

You can reach Staff Writer Kathleen Coates at 707-521-5209 or kathleen.coates@pressdemocrat.com.