Not your typical pumpkin.
The pumpkins we grow to produce Hay River Pumpkin Seed Oil derive from a mutation discovered in Austria about 1870. They don't look exactly like regular pumpkins. These green and orange striped beauties have been bred for their large "naked" seeds and lack the hard white shell of most pumpkin seeds. They are ideal for both eating and oil production.  In most pumpkins it is orange beta-carotenes that give the flesh its color, flavor and nutrient value but in this variety the flesh is almost white and pretty useless. After harvesting the seeds we just toss everything back in the field to compost and enrich the soil for next year's crop.

Last frost date June 1? Better start in the greenhouse.
We live WAY north and have a brief but intense growing season. Because of the latitude, during the summer we have twilight till nearly 10:00 PM. Pumpkins love the long hours of sunlight and do very well. What they don't like are frosts and we can have them up to June 1. We greenhouse start the plants around mid-May then with a very close eye on the weather forecast, transplant the first week of June. In 2004 we had frost in July. It was so depressing to watch all the leaves die back. Fortunately the plants had already set fruit and they then focused their energies on ripening. Let's hear it for the pumpkin plants folks!

Organic growing methods.
Our northern location is blessed with pristine, fertile soils. The last thing we would want to do is introduce toxic chemicals and we strictly adhere to organic growing methods. No chemicals period. We like the idea of working with the natural cycles and add to the fertility of our soils using compost, wood ashes, litter from chickens and other natural sources.

Fun with machetes, hand harvesting in September.
After planting in June, pretty much we leave the pumpkins alone and move on to other activities. Fortunately most years the rains are frequent enough to keep the plants growing all summer. Along about September the pumpkins start to display their distinctive orange and green stripes and then it is time to harvest. We move the pumpkins into rows then the person with the most repressed emotions in need of expression walks along and using a machete, splits the fruits. The seeds are exposed for harvest and at least one person has worked through a few issues. Then our crew moves down the rows and scoops out the seeds into tubs. One of our goals has been to create jobs with fair compensation for everyone involved; sustainable for the earth and sustainable for people too.

Cleaning & drying seeds
The seeds are disassociated from the fibers in our first piece of agricultural equipment, a seed cleaner. It doesn't work at all like the catalog said it would but, in its own fashion, does work. It separates the seeds from all the fibrous stuff and we get perfectly cleaned pumpkin seeds. The seeds are then dried in a custom-built modified corn dryer.

Roasting and pressing at Botanic Oil.
We are just plain lucky to live only an hour away from one of the few places in North America that has the German-made equipment for cold pressing the oil from the seeds. In a very good year, this variety of pumpkin produces seeds that are about 30% oil. Don't ask about the bad years! Botanic Oil Innovations, in Spooner, WI  is the fine company that roasts, presses then bottles our oil. 

Bottling.
After pressing, the oil is left to settle for about 4 weeks. Fine particles of the seeds settle out so that the oil you purchase is a beautiful, clear, deep red color. Our bottles are filled then the air at the top is displaced with nitrogen gas. By "nitrogen flushing" the oxygen is eliminated. Although required for life, oxygen is also the culprit that causes things to age and oils to loose their flavor. You benefit with fresh, nutrient-dense and delicious pumpkin seed oil.

Labels and shipping.
The tamper proof safety caps are applied then with much focus, the Hay River label is carefully aligned and adhered. The very talented folks at Pure Branding are responsible for our A+ label. We then take your order of pumpkin seed oil to ship out of the Prairie Farm post office.