Our History
Pearson's Melon Farm
Pearson's Melon Farm (PMF) is a 100 acre, second generation, family, farm with 60 tillable acres in Howard (Sandtown), Indiana. The mission of PMF has been, to provide summertime eatin', and later fall decoratin' for west central Indiana and east central Illinois families. The focus of PMF has been conventional production of watermelons, cantaloupes, tomatoes, sweet corn, and ~80 varieties of pumpkins and squashes. Produce has been marketed primarily through two farm markets and grocery stores in Indiana and Illinois.
Pearson's Melon Farm had it's beginnings in 1955 when John Pearson, quit his factory job and moved his family to Howard, Indiana, in Parke County, and began growing watermelons and cantaloupes. At the time, this sandy area on the east bank of the Wabash River had about sixteen families growing and selling melons; Pearson's Melon Farm is the last one standing. Patsy (Pearson) Steffen has been involved in produce growing and selling since she was twelve, with time out for schooling, traveling in the south Pacific, a stint as a microbiologist in the corporate world, and teaching biology in a local high school.
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| Road by Pearson Melon Farm fields | Sign at Sandtown market |
At 91 years of age, Patsy's dad, John still helps man the farm stand at the home place, along with neighbors, Marilyn and Debbie, and sometimes a money jar. Patsy's sister, Norma Pearson, manages the second farm stand, established in 1996, in Tilton, Illinois.
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| Faith thumps melons for ripeness | Getting ready for October |
Quiet Springs Farm
Quiet Springs Farm is a 50 acre family farm, with 35 tillable acres near Tangier, Indiana, and a mission to build local, sustainable food systems. The focus of QSF has been on organic production, season extension (early spring and late fall production) and specialty crops, such as: lettuces, salad and cooking greens, oriental vegetables, spinach, snow peas, radishes, onions, beets, summer squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, potatoes, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, okra, green beans, plus many other vegetables and herbs.
In 1996, Ken Steffen and his family moved from Pennsylvania to establish Quiet Springs Farm, in Parke County, Indiana near the tiny town of Tangier. The Steffen kids, homeschooled by their mother, were involved in most aspects of farm production and marketing from the ages of 13 (Ben), 11 (Adam) and 8 (Faith). In the early years, Quiet Springs Farm grew and marketed organic produce to farmers markets, natural food stores, restaurants and a nearly 200 member Community Supported Ag (CSA) program. Watermelons and cantaloupes from Pearson's Melon Farm were sometimes included in the weekly shares of CSA members. Ken, a native of east central Illinois, traveled the Americas, worked in construction and in natural foods cooperatives. For almost 20 years he was involved in horticultural research and teaching, including, leading a research project comparing organic and conventional vegetable production systems at Penn State University.
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| Yesterday's corn | Ripe in a couple more days |
Over their college years, each of the Steffen kids, has managed to help on the farm for a summer or two, but it looks like it's going to be hard to keep them down on the farm. They still are involved, but more as sounding boards and technical advisors.
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| Faith taste testing for sweetness | Cody helping with corn harvest |
Steffen Farms
Beginnings
The beginning of the millennium, found both Ken Steffen and Patsy Pearson single. They began farming cooperatively in 2003; sharing equipment, land and labor, although Ken still managed a five member construction partnership. In 2006, Ken and Patsy were married and at the end of 2008 Ken 'retired' from construction to full-time farming.Last year Ken and Patsy added a third farm market in Champaign, IL.
Ken and Patsy live on Quiet Springs Farm, 2 ½ miles from the Pearson Melon Farm home place where Patsy's dad, John, lives and 5 miles from where her sister, Norma, lives.
Past Season
In 2010, Ken and Patsy, with the help of family and friends grew and marketed, at their three farm market stands: 9 acres of watermelons, 8 acres of sweet corn, 5 acres of pumpkins, 3 acres of cantaloupes, 3 acres of tomatoes, including, 1/10th of an acre in a high tunnel, and minor amounts of peppers, cabbage, eggplant, cucumbers, zucchini, onions, and basil. Extra produce was sold to grocery stores in Indiana and Illinois and to area peddlers. Neighbors in Parke County produced green beans, raspberries and honey for them to sell at their markets. In the spring, before their crops were ready, they started their market season with produce from 2 farms that are ~65 miles to the south and ~2 weeks ahead of their season. In late May and early June, they sold strawberries from Blann's Berry Farm (the 4th year) and about one week before the fourth of July, they sold sweet corn, cantaloupes and watermelons, from the 3 generations of the Horal family at Melon Acres (the 13th year). In the fall, they also sold mums from Danville Gardens, apples from Coffing Bros. Orchard near Lodi, Indiana and straw from a local farmer. Ken and our field manager, Jason, along with six, local workers formed our field production crew.
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| Our late corn planting | Ken checking for corn earworm moths |
Future Market Options
Steffen Farms quite literally represents the marriage of two very different, but also very complementary farms. This arrangement provides customers with many options; eg. variety of produce offered; length of season; type (organic or conventional); and method of purchasing (farm market, subscription or both).
In 2011, we will be working on improving our three farm market outlets and developing a Farm Share Program that dramFor 2012, we hope to have Quiet Springs Farm, certified through the farmer run Certified Naturally Grown program. We will explore the possibility of a farm market stand in Indianapolis and of developing a CSA subscriber base around this market.
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| Pearson's Melon Farm stand | Cody and Patsy loading melons |
A Tale of Two Farms
We would like to share how we are currently managing both a conventional farm, Pearson's Melon Farm and one that is in compliance with organic certification guidelines, Quiet Springs Farm. The center of operations and fields of Pearson's Melon Farm and Quiet Springs Farm are 2.5 miles apart, a 15 minute tractor ride, and equipment is shared between operations, with the exception of sprayers. Quiet Springs Farm was previously certified as an organic operation and we plan to re-certify with the farmer run, Certified Naturally Grown (CNG) program next year. The guide lines for the CNG program are in a number of areas are more restrictive than the National Organic Program (NOP).
Currently, all the vegetable and flower transplants are grown in a greenhouse on Quiet Springs Farm, and all the early season and late season produce will be grown there as well, using greenhouses and high or low tunnels. All of the watermelons, cantaloupes, pumpkins/winter squashes and sweet corn will be grown conventionally on Pearson's Melon Farm for the foreseeable future. In the past, Quiet Springs Farm has had difficulty growing abundant supplies of these four crops. There was not enough sandy ground for extensive watermelon production, while cantaloupes, pumpkins/winter squash and sweet corn each have pest or diseases that are very destructive and difficult to control organically. For the next year or two, tomatoes and most other mid-season summer crops will be grown on both farms. Over a three year span, we will gradually shift major production of all crops, other than watermelons, cantaloupes, pumpkins/winter squash and sweet corn to Quiet Springs Farm. Produce will be labeled by farm of origin and identified as to type of production, if different than conventional.
Gradually, we are incorporating more organic practices on Pearson's Melon Farm and we expect this to continue. Currently, we are using cover crops and green manures, minimizing the use of herbicides by using plastic mulch and cultivation and using pesticides only when economic thresholds are exceeded as determined by the monitoring of pest populations and environmental conditions. At some point, we likely will introduce small acreages of watermelons, cantaloupes, winter squash and sweet corn on Quiet Springs Farm, but we will also continue to maintain split acreages of some key crops on both farms. As an example, tomatoes can usually be grown successfully with organic procedures, but some years such as this past year, when a disease such as late blight threatens the entire crop, we can at least save part of the crop with conventional sprays.