From late nights packing boxes of farmers market produce around the family dinner table to growing almost all the in-season vegetables in hybrid community-supported-agriculture grocery boxes, Local Pumpkin has come a long way in 10 years.

Owned by John and Cathy Franklin of Pasco, the business delivers customizable produce boxes on a weekly, biweekly or monthly basis to Tri-City area doorsteps.

It has continued to thrive post-pandemic amid a growing hunger for locally-grown and -made products, connecting subscribers via a few mouse clicks with locally-raised meat, dairy products, baked goods and sweet treats, flowers, pasta, honey, mushrooms, ferments, tallow-based soaps and body care products, and of course, fresh in-season produce. 

Plus, there’s more from businesses around the Pacific Northwest, like Huney Jun kombucha from Peshastin and a full range of heritage grains and flours from Bluebird Grain Farm in Winthrop, among others.

When Covid-19 broke out, Local Pumpkin’s customers came close to tripling almost overnight. 

“During the peak, we were making 600 deliveries per week,” John said.

After the pandemic settled down and things started to return to normal, some customers returned to their usual shopping habits.

“We have over 600 active customers and we do about 350 deliveries a week,” John Franklin said. “We would love to get up to 500 per week … 500 would be the sweet spot both for us and our partners.”

Newest venture

Though the couple’s five children have grown up, their daughter, Annie, still works alongside her parents in the family business and their new venture: the farm.

The Franklins’ two-acre Franklin County property features an outbuilding they converted into a box-packing facility as well as a back pasture that was once range for cows and goats.

In 2021, the family embarked on an experiment that has swiftly developed into a new business arm. John Franklin cultivated a quarter acre of the pasture and planted it with salad greens, beets, carrots and zucchini for their boxes.

Customers loved the fresh new additions so the Franklins decided to run with their garden to supply more farm-fresh produce using a regenerative approach, including no-till and organic methods.

In 2022, more rows went in and in 2023, a high tunnel and greenhouse were added for starting seeds, nurturing seedlings and growing tomatoes and cucumbers.

This year, they added another high tunnel and have about an acre that produces crops throughout the season. A few examples include:

• 1,500 pounds of cherry tomatoes from a 150-foot bed.
• 900 pounds of zucchini per week from a 150-foot bed.
• 150 cucumbers per week from 150-foot bed.
• 50 pounds of spring lettuce mix from a 50-foot bed.
• 120 bunches of beets and 120 bunches of carrots from a 50-foot bed.

“Regenerative agriculture using no-till is the perfect thing to do on a small space,” John Franklin said. “I think we’re the only ones doing this here. There’s a lot in the Seattle area; in the Midwest there’s tons of it.”

No-till is exactly what it sounds like. After preparing the soil for the very first planting, layers of nutrient-rich compost or animal manure are shoveled on between crop rotations to mimic how nature builds soil layers atop the old.

“We don’t buy synthetic pesticides or herbicides; we use neem oil to control pests and organic chicken manure and fish emulsion for fertilizer,” Cathy Franklin said.

“The turnover is very quick, and I’m so amazed with the quality and flavor,” she said.

“We’re closing in on the end of our third year and we have an ecosystem with tons of bees, worms, ladybugs … it becomes a little bit easier once you get established,” John Franklin said. “It’s old school but with new tools. There’s a whole industry that makes tools that fit this farming model based on specific bed dimensions. The tools make it really efficient.”

Customer supported

The Franklins funded the new venture by turning to their customer base for crowdfunding. 

“Each of the last couple of seasons, we have received about $15,000 each year – prepaid – from customers that helped fund yearly equipment and infrastructure improvements instead of going to the bank,” John Franklin said.

For example, if a customer sent in $500, they received $525 in store credit.

“We have taken out zero loans to do the farm,” he said.

Local partners

Though the Franklins’ farm has been a success, they still rely on partnerships with local farmers and artisans to round out Local Pumpkin’s offerings.

One of those partners is Cream Line Farm in Milton-Freewater, owned by Erica Turner and her husband, Tyler Carroll. They said they are the only dairy operating in Umatilla County and one of only a few independent dairy operations selling products under their own label in the region.

The couple have been milking cows for 20 years, originally selling to Darigold. Three years ago, they began processing their own salted and unsalted cultured butter, pasteurized whole milk and heavy cream.

“We have 90 Jersey cows who are pasture-based, though not solely pasture fed – 365 days per year they have access to pasture,” Turner said. “Walla Walla Cheese Co. and Umapine Creamery, who are also Local Pumpkin partners, gets all of their milk from us.”

Cathy Franklin reached out to Cream Line about their butter. “Local has been great; they are awesome to work with and we are so happy that we had the opportunity to partner with them. It has definitely given us some reach and I like where they’re going,” Turner said.

Another partner is Haven Flower Farm of Badger Canyon in Kennewick, a fellow cottage industry selling hand-cut flowers fresh from their homegrown fields. This year, Local Pumpkin began delivering Haven’s bouquet subscriptions.

“(Local Pumpkin) is the hidden treasure,” said Haven’s owner, Paris Rodgers. “It made good sense and it’s been successful. Flowers are basically how you bring your home to life.”

Though they aren’t necessarily edible flowers, Rodgers said the synergy of food and flowers works. Like knowing where your food comes from, she said, “it’s another way to be connected with the earth and things that are alive and organic.”

Other developments for Local Pumpkin include the acquisition of NuTrisha’s Easy Prep Meals, which sells scones and ready-to-cook meal kits that the Franklins package themselves. They also partner with Dufur, Oregon-based Azure Standard, which supplies Local Pumpkin with organic, non-GMO and natural pantry staples to help save customers trips to the regular grocery store.

Work on the farm continues with new crop experiments and the addition of a grape row along the back of the market garden that should bear fruit for next year’s boxes.

“The best thing you can do is support local,” Rodgers said. “If you want to make an impact in your world, think about how you spend your dollars, and local is the best way. It really does matter where you spend it.”

Local Pumpkin: 6109 W. Richardson Road, Pasco, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday, 509-416-0985, localpumpkin.com.