2013 Spring CSA!!!

Spring season is upcoming!  There is plenty of room for people who are interested in taking part in the C.S.A. this year.  Once it starts in May we will be providing vegetables and produce weekly.  A half-share is $360 and a full share is $660.  This will go until November.  Happy Spring season to you!

Please e-mail Steve Smith @

Steve.hollowpumpkin@gmail.com

Or call at 618-614-2233.

P.S.  Anyone interested in volunteering please contact the same addresses above or if you know where to go just come on by!!

Time Flies When You're In the Garden

It is amazing how time flies when you are working in the garden, or fields. Steve has been so busy ramping up for Hollow Pumpkin's 2012 Summer/Fall C.S.A. that there has not been much time for anything else. All the work pays off and the kick off of our Summer/Fall section is just around the corner. Assuming all goes well and as planned our members will begin receiving newsletters and important information and updates within the next four weeks.

The weather, of course, has been unusually helpful in early growth. Now that it has cooled down some we are seeing a tad slower growth. Steve has been walking around shaking his head a lot these days. Though the warm winter and spring has made it possible for many farmers to plant early, it also is confusing as to what to do in the coming years. We are scratching our heads and asking ourselves is this warm weather going to be a pattern or a passing cycle? Will Ma Nature play a prank on us just when we get used to warmer climates and throw a frost at us? Many if not all farmers who have been farming for a long time depend on weather patterns to plan their planting throughout the year. Steve is such a farmer and so he has been amused and a bit confused about the weather. I just tell him that Ma Nature is keeping you on your toes and dusting off some of those cob webs you've grown over the past 35 years. We all must have a sense of humor when it comes to farming, weather and, as sad as it is, possible global warming. Zones are changing and we all must adjust to it while we change our behaviors to more sustainable ones for the earth.

We are excited about the start of Hollow Pumpkin C.S.A. 2012 Summer/Fall harvest and we are looking forward to meeting all of our new members and seeing all of our loyal veterans. Please stay tuned for more updates coming soon and thank you for your support!

Happy Eating to All - Hollow Pumpkin Farm

The Final Winter Distribution and Beyond

On Wed. Feb. 15th 2012 Hollow Pumpkin C.S.A. made it's final distribution of shares in the first of what we hope will be many years of our experimental season extension harvest here in Southern Illinois. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the great folks who joined up to participate in this experience. For us, it is all about feeding the community in the most nutritious, organic, healthy, environmentally friendly and cost effective way. It is all about our members and keeping the farm alive to serve the community.

Southern Illinois is unique in many ways. It is not California, where the weather is perfect for growing almost year round and, it is not the east coast where the Community Supported Agricultural movement in America began. The mid-west has been slow in hopping aboard this endeavor, though, we are the most bountiful region of America in many ways. And Southern Illinois sits in a slightly precarious position in the region where it comes to weather and soil and mentality. It is fun watching this area grow and spread it's agricultural wings beyond the conventional practices of our predecessors which has been so deeply ingrained into this region's psyche. It is a slow yet necessary process. This process cannot be achieved by any one entity alone.

Hollow Pumpkin farm would like to thank the Neighborhood Co-op Grocery in Carbondale Illinois for allowing us to use their wonderful healthy environment to distribute our C.S.A. shares during this winter harvest as well as our summer and fall harvests. All of the employees at the C0-0p have been extremely helpful and friendly and the folks in the produce department are the best! Hats off to Francis Murphy and Kristin Pass for having a great vision for this regions local and healthy food movement.

Steve and I will now turn our attention to the spring, summer and fall. We are looking, once again, to increase our membership, this year to 35-40 members. Steve has been busy planting seeds and cleaning up the fields, mending fences and planning, when possible, for improvements as we go forward into Hollow Pumpkin's 35th year as a farm and 4th year as a C.S.A.