Photographs, a UMTV segment and sidebars - UMNS stories #480-481 - are available.
A UMNS Feature
By Kathy L. Gilbert*
Workers
cut pumpkins from stems in preparation for harvest at the Pumpkin Patch
USA fields in Farmington, N.M. The pumpkins are grown on the Navajo
Agricultural Products Industry, the Navajo Nation's farming and
agribusiness enterprise, pumping more than $2 million into the local
Navajo economy through jobs and land rent permits. In the background is
an irrigation pivot that allows the pumpkins to be grown in an area that
would otherwise be desert. A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose. Photo number
03-326, Accompanies UMNS #479, 10/6/03
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A
clipboard showing loads and destinations for truckloads of pumpkins
sits on a counter in the scale house at Pumpkin Patch USA in Farmington,
N.M. In the background is Tina Jones, chief financial officer for the
company. Jones says the best thing about her job is knowing she is
really making a difference. “Last year, the individual churches that
sold pumpkins kept for their own various projects over $3.5 million,”
she says. “They used their money for hospice, for mission trips, for
Habitat for Humanity, a lot of different projects. It’s a great feeling
to be a part of an organization that provides those kinds of benefits.” A
UMNS photo by Mike DuBose. Photo number 03-327, Accompanies UMNS #479,
10/6/03
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Caitlin
Leveque, 4, helps arrange pumpkins from a Pumpkin Patch USA truck at
Fellowship United Methodist Church in Murfreesboro, Tenn. Youth leaders
at the church hope to raise $8,000 to $10,000 from sales of their load
of 2,000 pumpkins. A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose. Photo number 03-337,
Accompanies UMNS #479, 10/6/03
No Long Caption Available for this Story
Pumpkins
are loaded onto tractor trailers at the Navajo Agricultural Products
Industry, the Navajo Nation's farming and agribusiness enterprise, in
Farmington, N.M. Pumpkin Patch USA will deliver pumpkins to 988 churches
in 42 states over the next few weeks for fund-raising projects.
Six-hundred ninety-seven of those will be to United Methodist churches. A
UMNS photo by Mike DuBose. Photo number 03-325, Accompanies UMNS #479,
10/6/03
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Tina
Jones, chief financial officer for Pumpkin Patch USA, says the best
thing about her job is knowing she is really making a difference. “Last
year, the individual churches that sold pumpkins kept for their own
various projects over $3.5 million,” she says. “They used their money
for hospice, for mission trips, for Habitat for Humanity, a lot of
different projects. It’s a great feeling to be a part of an organization
that provides those kinds of benefits.” A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose.
Photo number 03-328, Accompanies UMNS #479, 10/6/03
No Long Caption Available for this Story
Richard
Hamby drives past a pumpkin field ready for harvest at the Navajo
Agricultural Products Industry, the Navajo Nation's farming and
agribusiness enterprise, in Farmington, N.M. Hamby’s company, Pumpkin
Patch USA, will deliver pumpkins to 988 churches in 42 states during
October. A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose. Photo number 03-324, Accompanies
UMNS #479, 10/6/03
No Long Caption Available for this Story
FARMINGTON, N.M. (UMNS) - Once upon a time, there was a young man who didn't know what to do.
His father said, "Son, you have always liked to grow things, why don't you be a farmer?"
So he planted some corn and peas and threw out a few pumpkin seeds.
It
was the pumpkins that people loved. Folks came from near and far to buy
the big orange vegetables. The young man thought to himself, "What I
need is a thousand pumpkin patches just like this all across the U.S."
And that is how Richard Hamby became "the pumpkin man."
Hamby's
life does sound a lot like a fairy tale. With his sweet smile and
gentle manner, he is a man who seems surprised that, 30 years later, he
is still making a living raising pumpkins.
"It's sort of magical
in that it started small and it just evolved and it produces a
substantial amount of money. It's all based on trust," he says.
He calls his life vocation a "happy accident."
His
dream of a thousand pumpkin patches almost came true this year. His
company, Pumpkin Patch USA, will deliver pumpkins to 988 churches in 42
states during October. Six hundred ninety-seven of those congregations
are United Methodist.
Hamby only sends his pumpkins to churches
or other nonprofit organizations, and his crops have helped churches
build homes for the homeless, send youth on countless mission trips and
even bring people to Christ.
You see, in the right hands, pumpkins can perform miracles.
A healing patch
The Rev. Rob Parsons saw pumpkins heal his community after Hurricane Andrew struck Florida in 1992.
"It
was my first appointment, Faith United Methodist Church in Miami," he
recalls. "I came in June, and Hurricane Andrew hit us at the end of
August. In the middle of all the chaos, someone said to me, 'By the way,
we ordered some pumpkins.'"
At the time, Parsons thought a
truckload of pumpkins was the last thing he needed. But when the
pumpkins arrived, they gave the community a reason to gather - and heal.
"We made $9,000 that year, and that is how we were able to pay our apportionments," he says.
Parsons,
on leave from the ministry after the birth of his third child, now
works in Pumpkin Patch headquarters in North Carolina.
He says
pumpkins have brought people into the church, and he knows of cases
where pastors have even led some people to Christ in the pumpkin patch.
"In a pumpkin field, people lose the stereotype of what a Christian is and just open up," he says.
Perfect place for pumpkins
Janice Hamby, Richard's wife and pumpkin partner, stays in Greensboro, N.C., while Richard goes out to the fields in Farmington.
The Hambys first grew their pumpkins in North Carolina, but Hurricane Hugo changed that when it struck in 1989.
"Hurricane
Hugo wiped out my fields, so I had to look for another place to grow my
pumpkins," Richard says. He found the perfect place on land owned by
the Navajo Nation. Pumpkins are grown through the Navajo Agricultural
Products Industry, the Navajo Nation's farming and agribusiness
enterprise.
Farmington only gets 4 to 6 inches of rain a year.
The irrigation system set up on the Navajo land lets the farmers control
the amount of water the crops need. Pumpkins are pampered in their soft
beds of silky, brown dirt.
The weather is perfect for pumpkins -
hot during the day and cool at night. They grow plump, round and orange
just at the right time for harvest in late September and early October.
Most
of the workers harvesting the pumpkins are from the Navajo reservation.
Pumpkin Patch USA pumps more than $2 million into the local Navajo
economy through jobs and land rent permits.
Stepping out on faith
Tina
Jones, chief financial officer for Pumpkin Patch USA, says the best
thing about her job is knowing she is really making a difference.
"Last
year, the individual churches that sold pumpkins kept for their own
various projects over $3.5 million," she says. "They used their money
for hospice, for mission trips, for Habitat for Humanity - a lot of
different projects. It's a great feeling to be a part of an organization
that provides those kinds of benefits."
Jones says it is a business based on faith.
Pumpkin
Patch USA grows the pumpkins and ships them to churches at no charge.
The churches take the pumpkins on consignment and are not responsible
for anything broken, damaged, stolen, rotten or left over at the end of
the sale. Back at pumpkin headquarters, the staff just waits for the
churches to send the money.
"What happens is we incur a
tremendous amount of expense before we ever ship the first pumpkin -
millions of dollars," Jones says. "And then we send them to the churches
completely on faith, on trust that they will set up their patch and
sell pumpkins and be diligent in that process."
The churches keep
25 to 40 percent of the profit, depending on their gross sales. More
information is available at www.pumpkinsusa.com or by calling (800)
453-9793.
Hamby says he has heard the United States might have a pumpkin shortage this year because of so much rain on the East Coast.
Grinning,
his parting words are: "Buy a pumpkin from one of the churches this
year. It's going to be a short year, and it should be a good year for
the churches."
# # #
*Gilbert is a United Methodist News Service news writer.
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