Whanganui sheep and beef farmers Clare and Grant Adkins also grow pumpkins for their seeds. Photo: Gianina Schwanecke / Country Life
Whanganui sheep and beef farmers Clare and Grant Adkins were looking for a "semi-retirement option" when they added pumpkins to the mix as part of efforts to diversify the farm operation near Okoia in Manawatū.
"We're producing a plant protein alongside our animal proteins," Clare told Country Life.
The couple don't grow the pumpkins for their orange flesh though. Instead, they grow an Austrian variety of pumpkin, known as the naked pumpkin, for their seeds, which they sell and turn into pumpkin seed flour and oils under the brand, Summer Hill Seeds.
"They're called the naked pumpkin, because unlike the ones at the supermarket where the seeds are surrounded by the white husk, these ones are naked within the pumpkin. Instead of having the husk as the protection, these ones have just got a super hard skin," Clare explained.
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They've planted about 10-hectares of their 500-ha effective sheep and beef farm in the "Halloween-looking" pumpkins which they farm alongside about 2000 ewes and beef cattle.
Clare said the pumpkins were a bit "unusual", growing to about the size of a soccer ball.
"They start out green like a courgette and then gradually go the lovely golden shades as they ripen."
The football pumpkins start out green like courgettes, gradually turning gold. Photo: Gianina Schwanecke / Country Life
The seeds, too, are green, as is the flour and oil which is made from them.
They have a lovely nutty flavour and provide a range of health benefits, including being high in protein - the Adkins' seeds contain about 52 percent.
The pumpkin flesh, however, is quite watery and stringy. It's not grown for eating.
"The pumpkin flesh and shell get discarded out the back of our harvesting machine so they go straight back into the soil and melt down really quickly."
A halved pumpkin, containing slightly green seeds. These will deepen in colour as it ripens. Photo: Gianina Schwanecke / Country Life
The pumpkins can also be eaten by stock, though the Adkins prefer not to mix grazing animals with human grade crops.
To grow the pumpkins the paddock is cultivated, with additional hoeing later on to remove the weeds. Though not organic, the pumpkins grow spray free.
"The vine goes for miles," Clare said.
"We only get to do the hand hoeing in December. We've literally only got a few weeks between germination and when they start tillering out and holding hands across the rows."
She likened the leaves to "little solar panels" putting the goodness from the sun into the fruit.
The couple have about 10-ha planted in pumpkins. Photo: Gianina Schwanecke / Country Life
It's a busy time on farm come harvest, once the leaves die down.
They use a tractor with a backblade to row the pumpkins. A tractor with the harvest attachment then drives over these rows and the pumpkins get picked up by a "great big drum with spikes on it".
The pumpkins are deposited into a chamber with knives that chop them into chunks and separate out the seeds. The fleshy chunks are deposited out the back of the harvester.
The seeds get taken back to a shed on farm where they are sorted into different grades.
The pumpkin seeds are processed as little as possible so that the seeds retain their natural goodness and nutritional value. The delicate sheaths that remain intact, around the seeds, are beneficial for gut health and are a source of fibre. Photo: Gianina Schwanecke / Country Life
They're soaked overnight and put through a washing machine outside before being put in the drier - a 7m by 1.2m frame with perforated sheet steel mesh.
The seeds are laid about six inches deep and described as "slippery green little wetsuits" at this stage.
Hot air is blown below the seeds while they're turned and it takes about 14 hours to dry them.
Last year the couple produced about 12 tonnes of seeds though they expect this year will be about half of that due to the dry conditions. Photo: Gianina Schwanecke / Country Life
New technology, introduced by the Adkins this season, has helped speed up the drying and sorting process.
The seeds then go into the "grand old lady", an antique seed cleaner, for sorting before the final grading process in a more modern colour sorter.
Clare said this, especially, had been a "huge time saver".
"It's done in less than three days what normally takes me and a helper a month to do."
The products are packaged in a former woolshed on farm, with the bottles packed with sheep wool offcuts. Photo: Gianina Schwanecke / Country Life
The best quality seeds are cleaned, dried and sold as is, so that they retain their natural goodness and nutritional value.
Lesser quality seeds are crushed and turned into pumpkin seed flour or oil which they also sell.
Grant said this year had been drier than most.
"Last year we grew about 12 tonnes of seed. This year's not looking so good. I think we might only get about half of that. But that's the joys of farming.
"It's a bit unpredictable."
Learn more:
- You can learn more about Summer Hill Seeds, here.
