About Archives - HAY RIVER™ Pumpkin Seed Oil

I see pumpkins …

Got some ideas …

Seeds are greenhouse started in late May

Years ago, I worked for the beauty product company Aveda. The company was founded by visionary entrepreneur Horst Rechelbacher who happened to be born in Austria. With Horst, I used to attend some of the large natural product trade shows where the government of Austria was an exhibitor. The people at the Austrian booth saw him as a favored son and would give us these huge, complimentary bags of all of their products including bottles of pumpkin seed oil. Learn more about Austria and pumpkin seed oil in the Pumpkin Lore section. I’d never heard of pumpkin seed oil before but found the rich, nutty taste unique and delicious.

From LA but sustainable Ag was interesting …

I grew up only 5 miles east of downtown LA but since moving to the upper Midwest have had a real interest in sustainable agriculture and local economies. It sort of made sense, I had always gardened and studied plant cell biology at University of California at Irvine in the mid-1980s. There was a real interest in plants and environmental issues. After moving to Minnesota in 1995, I had the honor of serving as a board member of the Minneapolis-based Alliance for Sustainability (formerly International Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture).

What could we grow ?

Desiring a rural life I moved with my partner, novelist Jay Gilbertson, to 80 beautiful acres outside of Prairie Farm in pristine Northwestern Wisconsin. We began to look for niche crops and products that could help diversify the local farm economy. We attended a value added agricultural conference in Eau Claire, WI where one of the speakers was Mark Mueller of Botanic Oil Innovations. He encouraged farmers to consider growing oil seed crops, feeling there was a real untapped potential in Northern Wisconsin.

Hey, let’s make pumpkin seed oil !

2003 Pumpkin Trials

Putting all this together, the idea of a locally produced pumpkin seed oil was born. Now, I have a more than full-time day job as head of business development for a fine line of herbal supplements, www.avestawellness.com but felt that at least on a part-time, hobby basis, we could pursue and create a product that might be good for health, be delicious and make a contribution to our community.

Testing stuff

2004 Trials. Pipe Pumpkins Early October

We’ve spent 4 years testing several varieties of these special “naked seeded” pumpkins looking to find one that would do well in our northern climate with its brief, but intense, summers. For a number of reasons, including ease of harvesting, we eventually selected a winner and have grown it ever since.

The future

One long-term goal is to support the local economy and create jobs in our community. We feel that pumpkins fit well with the local agricultural patterns and that this project has real potential to create additional income for small farmers.

Organic and Sustainable Growing Methods

The few, the proud, the pumpkin growers. Pumpkinhead Ken Seguine

The Prairie Farm area is already a hotbed of organic farming and progressive agricultural thought so of course, the pumpkins are organically grown, without any type of chemical fertilizers or pesticides. Even more than that, we consider many aspects of sustainability, including paying a fair and sustainable wage to the folks involved in growing and hand-harvesting the seeds. Learn more about the choices we make in producing the oil in Seed to Oil section.

The Name

The beautiful Hay River flows through our community

Hay River is the name of the picturesque, scenic and still undiscovered river that flows through our community of small family owned farms. We also wanted to give our oil a strong sense of place and included the word, “Wisconsin” right above “Hay River” on the label. “Want some cheese curds with that oil and how ’bout those Packers!”

Special thanks to our wonderful friends & community in Prairie Farm.

We love Wisconsin!

Ken Seguine

Jay Gilbertson

More than just Halloween and pie

May 2006 with one last survivor from 2005

Most American’s knowledge of pumpkins pretty much ends after the Halloween carving project and Thanksgiving dessert is over. However, pumpkins have much more to offer . The seeds are both high in protein and rich in a highly nutritious, flavorful oil.

Pumpkins – the early years

Behold! Cucurbita pepo

Pumpkins are true American originals. Although other species of pumpkins exist in different parts of the world, the variety we know best for jack-o’-lanterns and pie is known to botonists as Cucurbita pepo. Found in parts of the US and Mexico, it was domesticated by the American Indians.

Pumpkins & Christopher Columbus

1492 – Columbus vogueing in front of Ferdinand & Isabella of Spain will presenting pumpkins

“In fourteen hundred and ninety two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue” and discovered pumpkins. Well, of course he didn’t “discover” pumpkins anymore than he had “discovered” the continent or its peoples but he was the first European to witness the use of pumpkins, widely grown in the southern parts of the US and Caribbean. Columbus made two trips to the new world and he was impressed enough with pumpkins that he took them back with him to Europe on his very first trip.

A star is born, pumpkins get the royal treatment

Pumpkins along with the gold and other treasures from the new world were presented to Columbus’ sponsors, the King & Queen of Spain. Sure there was some interest in the gold but it was really the pumpkins that got everyone excited. Ok, that last part is totally made up but it does seem that pumpkins were well received because by the 1600’s they were being grown across Europe.

Austrians knows a good thing when they see it

It was in the Southeastern Austrian state of Styria, that our own American pumpkin found its most appreciative and discerning audience. Over three centuries ago, they began to grow pumpkins specifically for the oil-rich seeds. By the 1700s the regulation-minded Austrians had developed appellations or standards on just exactly how pumpkin seed oil should be properly produced. Today, by far, the world’s largest producers and consumers of pumpkin seed oil are the Austrians. The oil is called Kubis Kernl or Kürbiskernöl. And is widely used in salads, vinaigrettes and marinades.

Mutant Pumpkins

Have you ever taken the seeds from your jack-o’-lantern and roasted them? If so, you know how good they taste but they’ve got that darned hard white shell. That hard coat is called the testa and it makes it a lot more work to produce pumpkin seed oil. The seeds had to be soaked then peeled. Well, as sometimes happens in nature a mutant or “sport” was discovered in Austria in the 1870’s. A pumpkin was found where the seed coat was reduced to a thin silvery paper around the seed meat (actually this is what becomes the first leaves of the pumpkin seedling, called cotyledons) Oh happy day for pumpkin seed oil producers. It made it MUCH easier to produce the oil without having to deal with that testy testa thing.

Back to the USA !

It is high time that Americans get with it and reclaim our own native pumpkin. Hay River Pumpkin Seed Oil is the very first grown and pressed in the United States. Although most people have never even heard of it, that is going to be changing quickly because of one strong reason – it is absolutely delicious!

info@hayriver.net

Pumpkin Visions