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.

The Farmer Who Dreams of Eggplants

2011 is almost over. We have had record rains this year and yet, Steve has been very pleased with how the 2011 Summer/Fall harvest went. There were a few disappointments in 2011 such as the loss of our corn crop and apples to the raccoons. For the most part we have had a very successful year. Our membership in our C.S.A. increased in a manageable manner and we hope we will continue to grow in 2012. We try to take it slowly and we try not to over extend ourselves so we may learn and improve each year. This year also brought an experiment to our door step. We have begun to experiment with season extension, specifically here in Southern Illinois. Southern Illinois brings some challenges with it and right now we are all trying to learn what will grow inside our new high tunnel during our winter months and what will winter over in the fields and retain a high quality for our C.S.A. members. We have taken on a few Winter/Spring members to test the waters. If all goes well we will continue to grow this section of our C.S.A. like we have been doing with the Summer/Fall section. We will make any adjustments that are necessary to have a productive season extension in the future.

When I met Steve, I had no idea the extent of his passion for farming and supplying the community with healthy organically grown produce. I found out, quite rapidly I might add, one evening when Steve began to mumble in his sleep. What was he mumbling about, you might ask? Well, it was not about me, I can assure you. Most men dream of warm places with beautiful women - Steve was mumbling about eggplants, yes, EGGPLANTS! That is when I realized that Steve has just about the largest passion for farming than anyone I know and his talent for it meets his passion. It was then that I decided to hop on board to help Steve to realize some of the goals for the farm that he had not been able to in the past. Now, we are about to enter our fourth year with the C.S.A. (Community Supported Agriculture), we received a grant to put up our second high tunnel green house, and we are considering goats, chickens and ducks for the future! It all happens because of our dedicated members and supporters! We can all be proud that we are a part of the growth a of sustainable, healthy food supply for our community and we can be proud that we are examples for others to join in on cleaning up our worlds food supplies.