“We didn’t know who bought it, we’d go out and the corn would be gone and the money left in the box,” Pam says. “Then, when I had a chance one day to see our customers, I saw it was elderly folks who had to walk down a hill to get to the corn. I wanted to make it easier for them, so we moved the stand to the top of the driveway and began meeting our customers.”
Those conversations led to insight about the farm-fresh vegetables people were craving. “They wanted fresh green beans, picked that morning, type of thing,” Pam says. Pam’s roots in customer service go all the way back to her youth when she worked at the general store in the FFA Pavilion at the Indiana State Fair, and the Jones family’s crops expanded. Today, the farm is a full time business for Pam and Adam, with Adam also still having a winter job in town. The children are homeschooled, which fits together with the learning and expertise needed to grow the many crops.
As one might guess, there is little downtime with so many different crops to manage. When the harvest season is done in November, planning for the next season begins with ordering seeds and thinking about timing in their small greenhouse where they start flower plugs. Getting the fields prepped is done in anticipation of the ground warming up enough for planting. “We take some risk planting as soon as we can,” Pam says, pointing out this strategy helps them have sunflowers that customers want for graduation parties in June.
Fragrant peonies are a popular flower crop of spring, followed by strawberries in time for Mother’s Day offered via U-pick. Sweet corn remains their “first love” and days start early in the summer picking produce before the heat of the day. All their produce and flowers are sold right off the farm, with the family mantra being “What’s sold here is grown here,” with the fruits of their labor going directly into the consumers’ hands.
August is the end of the busy vegetable season as the weather gets dry. The focus then shifts to pumpkins, growing 200 types of pumpkin, gourds and squash. It takes a spreadsheet to track the numerous varieties! They know what kinds their customers like and have a good relationship with their seed supplier who provides new unique varieties to test.
People come out to the farm and can get in a wagon to go out in the field and select a pumpkin off the vine. Customers can also select pre-picked pumpkins in the aptly named Pumpkin Palace. Their son, Ross, once said “these pumpkins are huggable,” so the 50-100 pound pumpkins are now known as “Huggable,” Pam jokes. Taking pumpkins and flowers to nursing homes at the end of the season is a way to share their bounty in their community.
Keeping the farm’s soil healthy and productive is a top priority. Crops are rotated among the acres, and cover crops are planted in the off season to enrich the soil. Soil samples are taken for analysis to be sure each acre of land has what it needs. “We are naturally putting back the nutrients the soil needs,” Pam says. The family also farms around 600 acres of corn and soybeans with uncles in Fayette county.
While a beautiful peony or fresh tomato is a thing of simple beauty, the hard work behind each piece of produce or fruit is real. “People are surprised by the amount of work it takes to grow food and flowers,” Pam says, pointing out that the reality of hands in the dirt is much different than wandering through the flowers with scissors and a basket like seen on TV.
The family loves being on the farm and continuing to serve people’s need for farm-fresh vegetables and flowers. “Not everyone can have a garden, and while it is hard work, we love sharing the sweetness of each season,” Pam says.